Teenager Wian Ruthven and the experienced Jason Niemand received rousing applause for their centuries as they put the Eastern Cape Iinyathi on the front foot on day one of their CSA Division Two four-day game against the Mpumalanga Rhinos at Buffalo Park on Thursday.
Ruthven, 19, notched up his maiden first-class century and was eventually dismissed for 194, while Niemand scored his sixth career ton.
At stumps on day one, the East London team had reached 354 for the loss of four wickets.
Niemand was on 107 and Hardus Coetzer had six.
They will continue the innings on Friday (10am).
Ruthven continued with his fine red ball form, as in the past two matches he had scored back-to-back fifties, which included his previous best of 70.
His mammoth hundred, combined with a 260-run partnership with Niemand, put Iinyathi in a commanding position in a match they desperately need to gather as many points as they can if they are to make the top two spots required for the final.
Earlier, Iinyathi captain Nathan Roux won the toss and elected to bat.
The decision was based on the pitch having little grass and being hard and appearing flat.
Though that eventually proved to be the case, the new ball provided assistance for Gareth Dukes in removing Roux in the third over for just six.
Roux attempted a drive after he had hit the previous ball for four, but the ball pitched on good length and moved away for him to be caught behind by Zakir Kathrada.
Following the dismissal of Roux, Lihle Sizani and Ruthven went into defence mode for a few overs, a tactic that was employed to see off the new ball threat.
They got it spot on, as 15 overs into the innings, the Rhinos’ bowling attack got very little assistance once the shine had worn off.
Ruthven shifted up a few gears, moving into white-ball mode.
He went close to a run a ball at one point in the first session.
At the other end, Sizani was less aggressive but ensured Iinyathi reached 100 before lunch.
The Rhinos turned to spin and introduced Aubrey Swanepoel and Smangaliso Nhlebela. That stopped Sizani and Ruthven’s ease of strike rotation.
To relieve the pressure, Sizani attempted a sweep off Nhlebela but missed the ball and was trapped leg before wicket for 33 to end a 72-run partnership.
Iinyathi went into the lunch interval on 84/2 with Ruthven on 44 runs and Niemand just on a duck.
Ruthven reached his half-century in the second over into the second session.
It was his third in the last three games.
The Rhinos tried everything in the book to break the Ruthven and Niemand partnership but struggled to break the wall.
The Iinyathi duo were resolute, something that their teammates Mncedisi Malika and Nico van Zyl had asked from the batting line-up prior to the game, as they felt the team had a bad habit of losing wickets cheaply.
In the 47th over, Ruthven reached his hundred in style with a four, making the job tougher for the Rhinos.
The teams went to tea with Iinyathi on 165 for two.
The Niemand and Ruthven combo went about their way in the final session.
Ruthven, who is originally from Pretoria, passed the 150-run mark momentarily before Niemand got his hundred.
With four overs remaining in the day, Ruthven was caught at deep midwicket by Karabo Mogotsi off the bowling of Nhlebela attempting to clear the boundary.
Malika had a short stay at the crease, as he was trapped leg before wicket by Swanepoel for a two-ball duck.
Daily Dispatch
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