Cullinan and de Bruyn shine for Easterns

Daryll Cullinan continued where he left off last week, scoring another hundred (125) and 61 not out, but it was his Easterns team-mate Zander de Bruyn, with a career-best 266 not out, who took the batting laurels in the second round of matches in the SuperSport Series.

Batsmen generally continued to hold the upper hand. A total of 11 centuries were scored, by Justin Ontong, Hashim Amla, Justin Kemp, Martin Gidley, James Louw, Laden Gamiet, Davie Jacobs, Sven Koenig ... and Shahid Afridi, the Pakistan one-day star, who hit 111 for Griqualand West in that match against Easterns. Afridi also took 5 for 92 in a match that finished in an exciting draw that went down to the final over.

Elsewhere a remarkable spell from Russel Symcox, the son of the former Test offpsinner Pat, enabled Natal to run through Free State. In 8.3 overs Symcox jnr wrapped up the innings with 4 for 13, after Lance Klusener grabbed 4 for 27 with the new ball.

Paul Harris helped Northerns make short work of their neighbours from across the Jukskei river, taking six Gauteng wickets for 59 in the second innings.

Match figures of 7 for 162 earned the North West paceman Francois van der Merwe the Man of the Match award as North West opened their season with a win over Border.

KwaZulu-Natal beat Free State by an innings and 115 runs. Free State 93 (Symcox 4-13, Klusener 4-27) and 185 (Khan 4-37); KwaZulu-Natal 393 for 6 dec (Amla 159, Khan 53*, Benkenstein 50).

Griqualand West drew with Easterns. Easterns 528 (de Bruyn 266*, Cullinan 125, Koenig 51, Shahid Afridi 5-92) and 215 for 5 dec (Koenig 100, Cullinan 61*); Griqualand West 485 (Gidley 143, Shahid Afridi 111, Malao 4-129) and 140 for 9.

Eastern Province drew with Boland. Boland 534 for 6 dec (Ontong 166, Magiet 92, Baxter 86, Marais 52*, de Lange 51*) and 109 for 5; Eastern Province 426 (Louw 124, Thyssen 56*, du Toit 4-97).

North West beat Border by 5 wickets. Border 369 (Gamiet 116, Kreuch 56, Strydom 53, van der Merwe 5-94) and 215 (Bruyns 59, Gamiet 57); North West 443 (Jacobs 110, J Henderson 84, Cilliers 54, C Henderson 4-74) and 145 for 5.

Northerns beat Gauteng by 223 runs. Northerns 402 (Kemp 143, Petersen 89, de Villiers 62, Dros 54, Powell 4-125, Eksteen 4-80) and 227 for 7 dec (de Villiers 54, Kemp 77); Gauteng 217 (Cook 63, Mbhalati 4-55, Thomas 4-48) and 189 (Bacher 51, Harris 6-59).