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South Africa's FOURTH domestic competition kick started yesterday with a Day/Night game at Centurion between Lions and Titans.

It was a strong all round display from the Lions as they both out-batted and out-bowled the far from Titanic looking Titans.

Ryan Rickelton's 92 helped bolster the Lions to a total of 305 - before the Titans were first strangled and then smothered to get 232 in 44.5 overs.

Game's are on-going throughout the weekend.

Another one sided game today as the Cape Cobras easily had the beating of the Warriors.

Looking dominant with both bat and ball, Pieter Malan's century helped the Cobras to 274-6; a total easily defended as the Warriors were all out for 245.

In yesterday's game, the Dolphins absolutely annihilated the Knights, winning by 94 runs.

Another series of weekend games kicked off today with three fixtures.

Cape Cobras v Lions was the most enticing prospect - but the Lions were fairly comfortable winners in the end. This was largely down to a massive innings of 157 from Ryan Rickleton who helped the Lions get to 320-7 - a total that the Cape Cobras fell 49 runs short of.

With 2 games played by all teams, the Lions are undefeated and top the table alongside the Dolphins, the Warriors and the Cape Cobras are in the middle with a win and a loss, whilst the Knights and the Titans are yet to win.

Two further games are played on Sunday.

This comp is throwing up some very one sided performances. Today Cape Cobras were beaten by the Titans by 95 runs.

Of the 7 games played to completion in this tournament 2 have been won by 80 or more runs with another two by 4 or more wickets. The surprise is that the wins are being shared around. This was Titans second win in four games as they top the table - the Cobras are 4th with 8 points.

Dean Elgar set the pace for the Titans as his century took the Titans to 302 with the Cobras only managing 202.

The Knights finally got their campaign up and running with a big win against the Cape Cobras.

They will have a lot to thank Jacques Snyman for as his century held together a frail middle order to overturn the DLS adjusted total of 258. Snyman' 124 came off 71 balls as the threat of rain meant that Knights couldn't rest on their laurels.

The Knights win on Saturday proved to be nothing other than a blip as they got back to losing ways today.

The Lions' Nicky van den Bergh got 91 and no fewer than four caught behinds and a stumping to help his side get to 275 and then limit the Knights to 188.

The Lions are now second.

Sarel Erwee is the James Hildreth of South African cricket; always very good domestically but never given a shot internationally.

He was the top scorer in a team effort that took table topping Dolphins to a total of 208-6 batting first against the Titans. A total they couldn't get near - especially after DLS intervened.

The Dolphins lead at the top is now 8 points off the Lions who have two games in hand.

The previously unstoppable Dolphins were....stopped today by the Warriors.

Despite the fact that the Dolphins had the superior batsman on the day - in the form of a 71 from Cody Chetty - and the joint best bowler they still finished second best.

Dolphins now have just (!) an eight point lead at the top now.

Dolphins are really screwing this up. Despite going 5 games unbeaten through February and the start of March they have now lost two on the trot to see their lead shrink to just 2 points from Lions who beat them today.

4-49 from Ayavuya Myoli was enough to limit Dolphins to 262-9. Lions never really struggled and got there with an over to spare.

And we're back with this tournament.

Last year's champions Dolphins got off to a great start with a comprehensive victory over Titans. The under-rated Senuran Muthusamy got 70 batting at 7 to set Titans a total of 273 runs to win. Titans never looked like overhauling and fell 76 runs short.

It has been a good start to the tournament for Dolphins and their wicket-keeper batsman Grant Roelofsen.

He scored 65 yesterday against the Titans and then followed it up with 92 today in their win against the Knights. Dolphins bettered their total from yesterday and got 290-8. Titans were never in it and were all out for 237.

No sign of Simon Harmer, Prof? (he asked desperately)

I note that Kyle Abbott signed up for Titans

Yeah....amidst much talk of a SA recall
No sign of Harms. Believe that, unlike Abbott, he lives full time here so may be trickier for him to get back.

Sinethemba Qeshile top scored for the Warriors with 64* as they ended their 44 overs on 226/6. Cobras got nowhere near and were bundled out for 148.

It was the Warriors first win of the season and puts them in the middle of the 3 team pool. Cobras have played 2 lost 2.

Today's game was one of those where a big performance from one player was topped by two lesser performances on the other side. JJ Smuts was let down by his other batsmen as his score of 102 was bested by two Lions players getting scores in the 90s. The highest Warriors score other than Smuts was 60 - with 6 other players out for single figures as Warriors only reached 247.

The Lions extend their lead at the top of the table