CENTURION – Farhaan Behardien recorded his 12th career century to ensure the Knights had moved into command at the halfway stage of their 4-Day Domestic Series encounter against the Titans at SuperSport Park in Centurion on Monday.
The veteran right-hander produced an outstanding unbeaten 126 (233 balls, 13 fours) as the Pool A leaders went to stumps on 307 for six against their hosts, who lead Pool B.
That put the Central Franchise 44 runs ahead in the cross-pool encounter, with key contributions also coming from the competition’s top run-scorer Raynard van Tonder (52 off 123 balls, 4 fours) and Patrick Kruger (69 off 99 balls, 9 fours).
The Knights had started day two well-placed on 23 for none having dismissed the Titans for 263 on the first evening.
They lost three key men early on after Matthew Kleinveldt (13), Jacques Snyman (15) and Pite van Biljon (13) fell cheaply – the former two falling at the hands of Lizaad Williams (3/63). That left the score on 49 for three.
But Van Tonder, who took his season tally to 656 runs, added 106 for the fourth wicket alongside Behardien, who then added a further 113 for the next wicket alongside Kruger.
It left Allan Donald’s side in a powerful position as they went past the Titans’ score and into the lead. Two late wickets did pull things back slightly, but Behardien importantly remained unbeaten at the end.
Cricket South Africa