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Port Elizabeth - A superb unbeaten 160 by wicketkeeper Heino Kuhn put the Nashua Titans firmly in the pound seats at stumps on the first day of their SuperSport Series match against the Chevrolet Warriors at Axxess DSL St George’s Park in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday.
The defending champions found themselves in big trouble shortly after lunch when they slumped to 75 for five (and later 149 for seven), but Kuhn managed to single-handedly wrest the initiative away from the Warriors with a swashbuckling innings.
At the close, the Titans were on 343 for nine after having been 62 for three at lunch and 177 for seven at tea.
Kuhn, whose massive score came off just 184 balls, hit 27 fours, after he found a willing assistant in the shape of last man Ethy Mbhalati (18 not out), with whom he shared a 10th-wicket unbroken partnership of 96 off 105 balls.
For the Warriors, what began as impressive bowling figures soon turned into somewhat less flattering stats, as Kuhn climbed into an attack which had, in the opening two sessions at least, begun to exert a vice-like grip on the match.
Rusty Theron was the Warriors’ best bowler, picking up three for 66 in 21 overs, while the Proteas duo of Wayne Parnell and Johan Botha each bagged a brace. The opening pair of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Garnett Kruger weighed in with one wicket apiece.
How different the day started for the Warriors. Parnell ripped through the Titans’ top order to reduce the visitors to 62 for three at lunch en route to returning morning figures of two for 15 in nine overs as the Titans were left to rue their decision to bat first after winning the toss.
At stumps, however, any lingering doubts about the choice made by skipper Pierre Joubert had evaporated into the Port Elizabeth night.
In the morning session, only Jacques Rudolph (24) and Pieter Malan (19) provided any stiff resistance as Parnell, together with Tsotsobe, Kruger and Theron, restricted the Titans to a run rate of just of two per over during a tough morning session.
The Titans had a disastrous start when Blake Snijman (1) was trapped leg-before by Tsotsobe off the fifth ball of the morning with just two runs on the board.
But with the new ball safely negotiated, Rudolph proceeded to fall victim to Parnell in his first over by edging a sharply-rising ball to keeper Arno Jacobs to reduce the Titans to 36 for two.
Malan and Gulam Bodi then steered the Titans past the 50-mark (73 min, 100 balls) but Parnell grabbed his second soon after to reduce the Titans to 54 for three.
The visitors lost a further four wickets in the afternoon session but not before Kuhn and Albie Morkel teamed up for a sixth-wicket partnership of 60 (11.4 overs, run rate 5.14) that became the platform from which Kuhn would launch his late-afternoon assault.
With the wickets continuing to fall, Kuhn took the fight to the Warriors’ bowlers, and his 50 came up in just 63 balls when he sweeped a Botha delivery to fine leg just before the tea break.
He picked up where he had left off before tea, putting on 84 in 19.2 overs (run rate 4.34) with Shaun von Berg for the eighth wicket before reaching his century off 114 balls.
The defending champions found themselves in big trouble shortly after lunch when they slumped to 75 for five (and later 149 for seven), but Kuhn managed to single-handedly wrest the initiative away from the Warriors with a swashbuckling innings.
At the close, the Titans were on 343 for nine after having been 62 for three at lunch and 177 for seven at tea.
Kuhn, whose massive score came off just 184 balls, hit 27 fours, after he found a willing assistant in the shape of last man Ethy Mbhalati (18 not out), with whom he shared a 10th-wicket unbroken partnership of 96 off 105 balls.
For the Warriors, what began as impressive bowling figures soon turned into somewhat less flattering stats, as Kuhn climbed into an attack which had, in the opening two sessions at least, begun to exert a vice-like grip on the match.
Rusty Theron was the Warriors’ best bowler, picking up three for 66 in 21 overs, while the Proteas duo of Wayne Parnell and Johan Botha each bagged a brace. The opening pair of Lonwabo Tsotsobe and Garnett Kruger weighed in with one wicket apiece.
How different the day started for the Warriors. Parnell ripped through the Titans’ top order to reduce the visitors to 62 for three at lunch en route to returning morning figures of two for 15 in nine overs as the Titans were left to rue their decision to bat first after winning the toss.
At stumps, however, any lingering doubts about the choice made by skipper Pierre Joubert had evaporated into the Port Elizabeth night.
In the morning session, only Jacques Rudolph (24) and Pieter Malan (19) provided any stiff resistance as Parnell, together with Tsotsobe, Kruger and Theron, restricted the Titans to a run rate of just of two per over during a tough morning session.
The Titans had a disastrous start when Blake Snijman (1) was trapped leg-before by Tsotsobe off the fifth ball of the morning with just two runs on the board.
But with the new ball safely negotiated, Rudolph proceeded to fall victim to Parnell in his first over by edging a sharply-rising ball to keeper Arno Jacobs to reduce the Titans to 36 for two.
Malan and Gulam Bodi then steered the Titans past the 50-mark (73 min, 100 balls) but Parnell grabbed his second soon after to reduce the Titans to 54 for three.
The visitors lost a further four wickets in the afternoon session but not before Kuhn and Albie Morkel teamed up for a sixth-wicket partnership of 60 (11.4 overs, run rate 5.14) that became the platform from which Kuhn would launch his late-afternoon assault.
With the wickets continuing to fall, Kuhn took the fight to the Warriors’ bowlers, and his 50 came up in just 63 balls when he sweeped a Botha delivery to fine leg just before the tea break.
He picked up where he had left off before tea, putting on 84 in 19.2 overs (run rate 4.34) with Shaun von Berg for the eighth wicket before reaching his century off 114 balls.
