The Eagles were six runs ahead with seven second-innings wickets in hand when bad light brought play to an end just 2.3 overs after lunch on the final day of the four-day SuperSport Series match against the Dolphins at the City Oval in Pietermaritzburg Sunday.

However, those statistics were rendered little more than meaningless by the fact that the encounter ended in a predictable draw, and the players and smattering of spectators had to wait around until mid-afternoon for the umpires to officially confirm the match was dead and buried.

After scoring 178 in the first innings, the Eagles were on 203 for three in their second innings. The Dolphins had been dismissed for 375 on Saturday.

Going into Sunday, the Dolphins led the Eagles by 197 runs with the Eagles returning to the crease on 67 for one.

Opener Dean Elgar and Rilee Rossouw enjoyed a 106-run partnership for the second wicket in just over two hours, off 182 balls, before the latter was caught behind by stand-in wicketkeeper Cameron Delport off the medium-fast Andrew Hall for a forceful 56 off 94 balls including 10 boundaries.

Delport took the gloves from first-choice wicketkeeper, and part-time leg-spinner, Daryn Smit, who encouraged a number of false shots from both batsmen as he wheeled the arm over from the Dusi River End, but it was Hall, bustling in off his long-ish run from the Park Drive End who kept things tighter.

Through all of this, Elgar was, for the most part, in assured form and he reached his hundred just before lunch when he hit a flat-batted shot off the back foot through the mid-on region from a ball delivered by quick bowler Quinton Friend. The 22-year-old left-hander's eighth first-class century came up off 206 balls and included 12 fours and a six.

After lunch, just 2.3 overs were bowled before bad light brought the players off for the umpteenth time in the match, but it was enough to see a sedate Boeta Dippenaar sent back to the hut by occasional spinner Ahmed Amla for 12, the third-wicket partnership with Elgar having delivered 61 runs.

A total of 135 overs were lost in the match due to rain and bad light as another fixture in these parts was wrecked by the weather.

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