SISANDA MAGALA and Basheer Walters shared six wickets as the opening day of the Sunfoil Series Cape derby ended evenly poised between the Warriors and BuildNat Cape Cobras at Buffalo Park in East London on Thursday.
The pair took 6/113 between them as the visitors were bowled out for 291, before they then reduced their hosts to 5/1 by the close.
Fast bowler Walters took 3/42 and fellow seamer Magala managed 3/71 after the home side had won the toss and opted to bowl first on day one.
There were a number of starts for the resurgent Cobras, who appear to be improving all the time under new coach Ashwell Prince, with veteran Andrew Puttick top scoring with 85 (186 balls, 13 fours) – his 44th career 50.
Aviwe Mgijima also played a central role with his 51 (92 balls, 5 fours, 1 six), the 10th half-century of his career, while there were starts for Stiaan van Zyl (38), Jason Smith (29) and Rory Kleinveldt (31).
It meant the Cobras fell just short of 300, but they then removed one of the openers when Dane Paterson (1/0) had Gionne Koopman caught behind by Dane Vilas for 5 – the Warriors ending the day trailing by 286.
