MiWay T20 Challenge
Dolphins draw first blood
2009-02-13 21:45
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Graeme Smith back in action for the Cobras (Gallo Images)
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Cape Town - The Dolphins made short shrift of the star-studded Cobras when they cantered to a 14-run victory in their Standard Bank Pro20 Series semi-final, first leg, at Newlands, Cape Town, on Friday.
It looked like the dreaded Friday 13th bad luck spectre had kicked in as the Cobras set about chasing the victory target of 162 runs. The capacity crowd (14 762 spectators) were left in a state of disbelief when Dolphins speedster Yusuf Abdullah removed Henry Davids (0) and Herschelle Gibbs (0) in the space of his first five balls, leaving the Cobras' innings reeling at 0/2.
JP Duminy then joined Graeme Smith and they briefly repaired the damage by adding 35 runs in the next five overs.
Abdullah (3/13) again intervened in authoritative fashion when he removed Duminy (17) at a time (35/3) when he was trying to force the pace, and worse was to follow when the Cobras lost four wickets for only 29 runs, and the home side looked dead and buried.
Andrew Puttick (2) ran himself out needlessly and then Smith's (32) wicket was claimed by spinner Darren Smit with the Cobras' total on 63/5 and the high drama followed when Sri Lankan Sanath Jayasuriya claimed two wickets with the first two balls in his first over.
His victims were Justin Ontong (9) and Rory Kleinveldt (0) and the Cobras innings stuttered from 64/6 to 64/7 and the match was well a truly beyond them although Richard Levi (48 not out) offered stubborn resistance at the end.
Earlier, the Dolphins, who won the toss and decided to bat, were given a terrific start by their openers HD Ackerman (62) and Jayasuriya (41). Their fluent batting ensured a run rate of just under 10 runs an over and at this rate it looked like the visitors could post a total bordering on 200.
However, when the partnership was broken (75/1 after 8.1 overs) by Ontong, who broke through Jayasuriya's defences with his first ball, the Dolphins run rate slowed down appreciably and wickets fell at regular intervals.
Four more Dolphins wickets fell for the addition of only 87 runs by the time they used up their allotted 20 overs.
Charl Langeveldt, Claude Henderson, Kleinveldt and Duminy all chipped in with a wicket each but they would not have been pleased with their side's sloppy ground fielding during the Dolphins' innings.
The Cobras will live to fight another day when the second leg is played in Durban on Sunday.
In the event of a Cobras victory, a third leg will be played in Durban on Wednesday.