Dolphins seek improvement

Durban - Dolphins captain Morne van Wyk believes they will take a lot of confidence from their opening One Day Cup victory over the weekend into their clash against the Highveld Lions at Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday.

The coastal side claimed an epic win over the Titans when they chased in excess of 300 at Centurion, while their opponents from Johannesburg also won their domestic 50-over season-opener by trumping the Warriors in Potchefstroom.

For the hosts, it was an important victory after they returned from a disappointing Champions League Twenty20 competition in India, having failed to win a game.

"What happened in India was a steep learning curve and after that it was important to come back strongly," Van Wyk said on Tuesday.

"Back in familiar conditions, even though it was Pretoria, it was nice to get that first win under the belt.

"What's exciting for me is that it wasn't our best outing as a unit. We had fielding issues with the bowling, the attention to detail wasn't good, so there's room for improvement."

The match is the second out of six that Lance Klusener's side will play during a 17-day period, before the competition continues next year.

Van Wyk believed it was important to cash in early so that they were well placed to reach the play-offs in 2015.

"Points under the belt early on are so invaluable in a competition like this," he said.

"It's a long competition with the ten games to play and you want to get that first win as early as possible, even more so because we're playing six games in more or less two weeks.

"You want to generate that momentum and get a little bit of mojo going, by winning probably half of those six games during the first half of the competition."

The Dolphins would be without star quartet Kyle Abbott, Ryan McLaren, Imran Tahir and David Miller who on tour with the Proteas, while the Lions would have to make do without Aaron Phangiso and Quinton de Kock.

However, Van Wyk believed it would still be a tough affair.

"Every team is strong and the Lions are no different," he said.

His counterpart Stephen Cook agreed that the hosts would be riding high after their heroics with the bat in the last game, but was nonetheless confident in his team's chances.

"Coming off the high from the run chase in their match on Friday evening, I think the Dolphins could be dangerous opponents," Cook said.

"They are always a challenging side to face but I think we are up for the challenge and we are keen to get our travelling shoes on and compete to the best of our abilities in this format."

Alviro Petersen, Eddie Leie and Chris Morris were all fit again and would return for the Lions.