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In a dress rehearsal for the knockout affair, the Dolphins eased to 26-run win over the Titans on Sunday at the same venue in their final group match.
For the knockout match, Dolphins captain Morne van Wyk said Daryn Smit, Robbie Frylinck and Craig Alexander would likely make a return to their lineup in place of the inexperienced trio of Tshepo Moreki, Calvin Salvage and Kyle Nipper.
“It's very hard to ask your frontline guys who played the whole season to play three fifty over games in five days. It was nice to give them a rest, and in the same breath to see the young guys coming through,” said Van Wyk.
“It's good to know the depth of our squad is growing. Playoff games are a beast of their own. It's the type of game where you need senior players to put up their hands and play well for you.”
Nipper batted at six and produced a vital 31 from 44 balls and aided Vaughn van Jaarsveld (101) in a 72-run stand for the fifth wicket. Lower down the order, Savage made 43 from 50 balls to help the Dolphins post 261, batting first.
In the bowling department, Moreki claimed 1/29 in seven overs while Savage conceded 29 runs from his six overs, with the visitors unable to get close to their target.
The Titans did, however, put together their highest third-wicket partnership in the format with a 150-run stand between Dean Elgar (59) and Theunis de Bruyn (81).
Van Wyk said his young bowling attack did not panic at any stage, and were ultimately rewarded for their patience with wickets later in the innings.
“I'm quite proud of the resilience we showed out there. It's quite a young bowling attack and we showed composure. Even while that big partnership was growing, we managed to keep quite calm out there.
"We hit our areas and didn't leak too many runs.”
The Titans, meanwhile, were left ruing the number of extras they conceded, according to captain Henry Davids, bowling 28 wides on the day.
“To be honest the extras are a bit of a concern. We have to have a very hard look at ourselves and come back very strong on Tuesday,” said Davids.
“We were very disappointed. I think with our disciplines we kicked ourselves in the foot there. It's something we'll have to look at and luckily we will have another bite of the cherry.”
