Wickets continue to tumble at Newlands

An early finish is on the cards at Kingsmead, after 15 wickets tumbled on the second day. Border started the day in charge, at 101 for 1, but a good spell from Andrew Tweedie, KwaZulu-Natal's fast-medium bowler, restricted the lead to 58. Mark Bruyns stroked 14 fours in his 76 before being bowled by Natal's captain Dale Benkenstein - and when KwaZulu-Natal batted again, it was Benkenstein who held firm after an early collapse. He was still there with 38 not out at the close, but leaders Natal's lead by then was a slender 86 runs.

Free State 322 (Dippenaar 69, Deacon 59, Henderson 5-71) and 1 for 1 lead Western Province 202 (Tsolekile 56, van der Wath 4-35) by 121 runs
Scorecard

Free State took charge at Bloemfontein, bowling out high-flying Western Province for 202, to claim a lead of 120. It could have been worse for WP: they were 69 for 7 before Thami Tsolekile, who top-scored with 56, put on 61 with Claude Henderson (42 to add to his five wickets) and 70 with Quinton Friend (28). Free State made a bad start to their second innings, losing Gerry Liebenberg to Charl Willoughby from what turned out to be the last ball of the day.

North West 263 and 39 for 2 are level with Griqualand West 302 (Bossenger 71, Kruger 56)
Scorecard

Honours were even at Kimberley - literally, as the teams ended the second day dead level. Griqualand West did well to reach 302, a lead of 39, after being 112 for 6, but then their wicketkeeper Wendell Bossenger made 71, and sparked good support knocks from Alan Kruger (56) and Charl Pietersen (45). North West knocked off the arrears by stumps, but lost both openers in doing so.

Eastern Province 233 and 86 for 4 lead Northerns 128 (Dros 67, Kops 5-36) by 191 runs
Scorecard

Eastern Province took charge on the second day at Port Elizabeth, bowling Northerns out for 128. Only Gerald Dros, Northerns' captain, offered much resistance: he made over half their total with 67, including 12 fours and a six. Left-armer Brent Kops polished off the innings with five wickets. EP had extended their lead to 191 by the close.

Easterns 563 for 9 dec (Koenig 105, Seymore 51, Z de Bruyn 64, P de Bruyn 117, Cullinan 70, Toyana 73, Ontong 4-150) lead Boland 208 for 3 (Davids 54, Strydom 64, Ontong 59*) by 355 runs
Scorecard

Boland made a spirited reply to Easterns' massive total at Benoni, but the spectre of the follow-on still looms - they ended the day still 355 adrift. Earlier Daryll Cullinan and Geoffrey Toyana had hit out freely before Culllinan declared with 563 on the board. Boland's captain, the Test allrounder, Justin Ontong added a gritty innings to a marathon bowling effort.