At Goodyear Park in Bloemfontein Western Province Boland put the Eagles under pressure after declaring at 371 for 9 and then reducing them to 89 for 3 on the third day of their SuperSport Series clash.
The top four Western Province batsmen all passed fifty, with Andrew Puttick falling for 98. He had struck 16 fours and one six in his five-hour, 190-ball stay at the crease before he was caught off the bowling of James Henderson. Strydom scored 78 before he fell to Cliff Deacon. The runs continued to flow as Ashwell Prince joined the party, putting on 55 with JP Duminy before he became Henderson's second victim, caught for 26. With three quick wickets falling Prince called them off at 371 for 7 with Duminy not out on 55. He had spent three hours at the crease striking six boundaries.
An early setback for the Eagles left them at 45 for 3 as they lost Davey
Jacobs, caught behind off Alan Dawson for 9, James Henderson, trapped leg-before by Rory Kleinveldt for 11 and Ryan Bailey clean bowled by Charl
Willoughby for 1. Jonathan Beukes (46) and Morne van Wyk (19) saw the
Eagles through to 89 for 3 when stumps were drawn.
Another early day at Kingsmead in Durban saw the Titans and Dolphins
squaring up for what could be an exciting finish, with the Titans holding a
lead of 145 with five wickets standing going into the final day.
The Titans' second innings never received the momentum that they required as
wickets fell at crucial stages. Partnerships were broken just as they became
threatening. Martin van Jaarsveld was caught for 34 just as he began to look dangerous. Justin Kemp fell for 27 while Geoffrey Toyana lost his wicket on 21. In the end it was left to Zander de Bruyn, not out on 91, and Kruger van Wyk, unbeaten on 27, to bat the Titans to 226 for 5 when bad light forced the players off the field.
At St George's Park in Port Elizabeth, Tyron Henderson's heroic 59 off 64 balls gave the Warriors a slender first-innings lead of 42 over the Lions.
Henderson and Abongile Sodumo (34) had put together a gutsy eighth-wicket partnership of 45 to see the Warriors edge ahead before being bowled out for 217.
The Lions made the best possible start, with Adam Bacher (47) and William Motaung putting on 133 for the first wicket. With the loss of Bacher the Lions lost their way and were it not for a match-saving maiden hundred from Motaung, the Lions may have faced an early defeat. HD Ackerman put together a determined 31 before the Lions were forced to declare at 217 for 9. The declaration came because of an agreement by the Lions to not bat the injured Charl Langeveldt.
The Warriors will bat tomorrow with a getable target of 236.
Keith Lane works for Cricinfo in South Africa.