Another tense day saw Western Province end 57 runs behind with just eight wickets in hand.

Honours were fairly even when tight bowling reduced Northerns to 166 for 7, just a single run ahead. However, the tail wagged merrily to release the stranglehold and give the visitors a lead of 109 runs.

Northerns made a slow start, with both overnight batsmen dismissed without addition. Maurice Aronstam hung around longer than his partner. He spent 40 scoreless minutes before getting a faint edge against Mark de Stadler, who had earlier seen Allahudien Paleker caught in the slips. Some gritty batting followed, with the first signs of aggression coming from Friedel de Wet. He could easily have been out first ball, edging Paul Harris past gulley, but hung in, hitting merrily before ironically perishing offering no shot to Ryan ten Doeschate.

Thereafter wicket-keeper Jorrie Jordaan took over, hitting ten boundaries in his innings of 56 off 89 balls. He found a particularly handy partner in Hampson, adding 73 for the eighth wicket off 112 balls after Hampson had looked decidely shaky early on. The last two wickets marshalled another 35 runs. Harris was the pick of the bowlers, taking 4 for 76 in 43 overs, conceding just nine boundaries. He bowled virtually unchanged from the Kelvin Grove end, enjoying a brief rest only when the second new ball was taken.

Needing to survive 28 overs before close of play, Ryan Maron in particular found himself subjected to some hostile bowling by de Wet. It came as no surprise when he fended off another short delivery from the Northerns paceman and was caught at leg gulley. JP Duminy batted with more discretion than in his brief first innings, standing resolute for almost an hour before edging Hampson. Rashaad Magiet, scoring 31 in just less than two hours, and skipper Jonno McLean survived the last 9 overs despite several confident appeals.

With two days left, the home batsmen will have to follow Magiet's example and play with much more application than was the case in the first innings.

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