South African left-arm seamer Tiaan van Vuuren registered his maiden first-class ton in the first innings of the second unofficial Test between South Africa A and New Zealand A.
Tiaan Van Vuuren shines for South Africa A
New Zealand A scored 482 after electing to bat first in the second and final unofficial Test between the two sides. Opener Curtis Heaphy led the way for the visitors with a career-best 190. He was supported by left-arm spinner Jayden Lennox's stoic 88 from No.10. Van Vuuren, a 22-year-old left-arm seamer, was the pick of South Africa A's bowlers, finishing with 4-107 in 26 overs.
Vuuren, who was part of South Africa's 2020 U19 World Cup squad, then showed his prowess with the bat. The South Africa A top and middle order made solid contributions, but regular wickets meant they were reduced to 277-6 nonetheless, still more than 200 short of New Zealand A's total. Van Vuuren waliked out to bat at No.8 with wicketkeeper Sinethemba Qeshile for company. The two not only rescued the South Africa A innings, but also put them in the driver's seat.
They added a mammoth 250 runs for the seventh wicket, making it the fourth-highest seventh-wicket first-class partnership in South Africa. Qeshile was looking good for a double hundred, but fell for 186 at the team score of 527. Van Vuuren, however, kept going.
The speedster had reached his first half-century in first-class cricket off his 80th ball, but took only another 30 deliveries to convert that into his maiden first-class ton. In fact, it was his first hundred in any form of senior professional cricket. Incidentally, van Vuuren reached both the milestones with sixes.
Watch Tiaan van Vuuren reach his first first-class hundred
He was eventually run out for 120 off 115 balls, having hit 10 fours and seven sixes. South Africa A were bowled out for 578, taking a healthy lead of 96 runs. New Zealand A faced 10 overs in the second innings before stumps, and were 23 for no loss, trailing by 73 runs.
2nd unofficial Test, South Africa A vs New Zealand A
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