Temba Bavuma and Cliffe Deacon led a spirited recovery by the Lions on day three of their SuperSport Series match against the Warriors in Port Elizabeth on Saturday to help them reach stumps on 121/6
The pair put on an unbeaten 67 runs together after the visitors had slipped to 20/5 in their second innings. Earlier, the Lions bowled out their hosts for 340 to take a first innings lead of 179.
Bavuma (48) and Deacon (32) helped the visitors to increase their lead to 300 with four wickets remaining and a day still to go.
Slow bowler Eddie Leie had earlier claimed 3/81 to give the Lions a strong chance of winning the game, despite Arno Jacobs finishing unbeaten on 70.
The Warriors started the day on 240/3 and were all out 100 runs later thanks to Chris Morris (2/65) and Alviro Petersen (2/30).
Ashwell Prince ended with 84.
Some excellent bowling by the Warriors had the home side storming back into the game, thanks mainly to Andrew Birch (2/19) and Rusty Theron (2/40).
The Lions stumbled to tea on 67/6, before Bavuma, who made 147 in the first innings, and Deacon launched the recovery with bad light curtailing play 20 overs before the scheduled close.
In the other game of the round, the Dolphins ended day three on 40 without loss, but will need to dig deep on the final day if they want to salvage anything from their game against the log-leading Cobras in Pietermaritzburg.
The home side required another 361 for victory, while the visitors needed 10 wickets after a quick second innings salvo saw them reach 160 for two declared, thanks mainly to Stiaan van Zyl’s unbeaten 71.
The 24-year-old took his match aggregate to 181 following his century in the first innings.
The men from Durban, without a win in the competition so far, began the day by losing their remaining three wickets for 46 runs with Cody Chetty top-scoring with 46. They finished on 192 to trail the Cobras by 240.
Slow left-arm bowler Siya Simetu ended with three for 55, while there were two wickets for Johann Louw.
In reply, the Cobras were initially slow but cut loose after tea as Van Zyl blasted seven fours in his 114-ball innings.
Justin Ontong made 33 not out, while Andrew Puttick chipped in with 31.
The runs dried up when the Dolphins batted as they scored at 1.60 runs to the over at the back end of the day with Imraan Khan (18) and Divan van Wyk (17) due to resume on Sunday. – Sapa