Rudi Second and Pite van Biljon weathered a Dolphins’ storm with a stand of 178, to leave the Knights trailing by 174 runs, with just one day left in their Sunfoil Series encounter at Kingsmead.
The Dolphins had resumed on 343 for five, and earned themselves almost seven batting points for their efforts.
Cody Chetty, who had gone to his century late on the second day, went early, as Ootniel Baartman snuck one through the defences, and clattered his timber.
Morne van Wyk made his way to a brisk half-century (62 off 63 balls), before he was bizarrely run out.
Robbie Frylinck had defended a delivery to point, where David Miller swooped and took a shy at the stumps. Van Wyk looked to evade the ball, but was run out as he jumped out of the way. It was bizarre, and the Dolphins inched their way to 426 for eight declared.
In response, the Knights started confidently enough, before the introduction of Attie Maposa. The KZN Inland star got Keegan Petersen to flash one to point, where Sibonelo Makhanya took a good catch to his left.
The very next ball, left-armer Maposa got one to nip back into Proteas’ batsman Theunis de Bruyn, and he was trapped in front.
Considering the form that De Bruyn brought into the match (195 against the Cobras), it was a big moment, and Maposa impressed on a day where he kept asking questions with the ball.
The Knights’ other star man, David Miller, walked across his stumps too far, and was also trapped in front, this time by Frylinck. At 60 for four, the door was ajar for the Dolphins to try and force the issue.
But Van Biljon (100 not out) and Second 83 rallied hard, and found fluency as the day wore on. Second was bowled late in the day by part-time spinner Senuran Muthusamy, who got through 15 overs for the hosts, on a pitch that was taking turn.
Late in the day, skipper Khaya Zondo also got in on the action, knocking over Corne Dry for 9, to give the Dolphins a glimmer of hope
for an unlikely victory on the final day.