England Lions toil on opening day of unofficial Test against South Africa A
Sunday 11 January 2015 16:53, UK
Centuries for Gihahn Cloete and Theunis de Bruyn ensured England Lions were made to toil on the first day of their unofficial Test against South Africa A at Boland Park in Paarl.
After winning the toss and electing to bat, the hosts capitalised by reaching 379-4 at stumps, with De Bruyn 126no at the close.
Cloete had earlier shared an opening stand of 122 with Stiaan van Zyl (65) before Liam Plunkett claimed the first of his two wickets by having Van Zyl caught by Alex Lees.
The same combination struck again soon after at 132-2 as Andrew Puttick fell to a 12-ball duck, bringing De Bruyn to the crease.
He and Cloete saw South Africa to 219-2 at tea, with Cloete reaching his century soon after the break from 186 balls.
He was eventually removed for 123 - caught by Sam Robson off Boyd Rankin - before Khaya Zondo (21) was stumped by Jonny Bairstow off Adam Lyth with South Africa 318-4.
De Bruyn stood firm, though, reaching three figures in just 131 balls courtesy of 18 fours to surpass his previous highest first-class score of 105 and he and Rudi Second saw things through to stumps to ensure a profitable day for the hosts.
Skipper Jonathan Trott used seven bowlers, with opening pair Jack Brooks and Mark Wood going wicketless in their 37 combined overs, while Adil Rashid was taken for 86 runs from his 14 overs.
