Nick van Woerkom (71) and Pierre Joubert (56) rescued Northerns from a poor first innings at SuperSport Park as Friedel de Wet returned career best figures of 4 for 35 for North West. With the last three wickets falling for four runs Northerns posted 264 and then only managed to get one over in when, with more than an hour to go before the close, a threatening thunderstorm and bad light put paid to any further play.
In Johannesburg Easterns declared their innings closed at 175 for 9, with Jaco Booysen (67) and David Wiese (54) being the only two batsmen to show any resistance to the bowling of Gauteng's Gerhard de Bruin. De Bruin ended up taking 5 for 47 after having taken the first four wickets to fall. Wiese then showed his all-round skill to take the two wickets in the Gauteng innings, before rain forced an early close at 59 for 2.