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Durban - With a firm eye on closing the gap on the top spot on the Sunfoil Series log, the Dolphins travel to Kimberley to take on the talented Knights side in a must-win four-day clash starting on Thursday as the business end of the competition fast approaches.
Despite having three draws from their six matches the Dolphins sit in second place on the log through their impressive accumulation of bonus points throughout their four-day campaign with the Titans’ game against the Knights abandoned without a ball being bowled the Dolphins can see the back door slightly ajar.
“Our performances in four-day cricket have been a lot more consistent than they were in the T20,” coach Grant Morgan said on Tuesday.
“I think that last week we managed to put in an all-round performance for the first time since we played the Warriors in the first game of the season.
“We had more stability in our performance. We had good batting partnerships, good bowling partnerships and we caught well.”
The Dolphins, along with all of the other franchises, have a busy period coming up as the Momentum One Day Cup follows directly on from the Sunfoil Series so Morgan has highlighted managing players workloads as imperative.
“We are going into this game with the same squad but we had adopted a policy of rotating our fast bowlers with the One Day Cup coming up soon.
“This is something that we weren’t able to do in the 20/20 competition because of injury.
“Now we are scaling up to be at full throttle with a number of guys starting to play for the amateur sides so we are able to balance our attack,” he added.
The Knights are a side that will also be looking to push for the top end of the log with a win over the visiting Dolphins and Morgan has highlighted a few areas where he knows they will be strong.
“They have the fastest opening attack in the country but that isn’t something that we are unfamiliar with and we are assuming that Duane Olivier will be available for the game.
“Their other strength lies in their middle order batting. I am not sure if Theunis de Bruyn is coming back from the Proteas but we have planned for him being there but with the likes of Dave Miller, Rudi Second and Keagan Pietersen it is a formidable middle order," added Grant.
Dolphins Squad:
Craig Alexander, Cody Chetty, Rabian Engelbrecht, Rob Frylinck, Sibonelo Makhanya, Senuran Muthusamy, Andile Phehlukwayo, Calvin Savage, Mthokozisi Shezi, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, Divan van Wyk, Morné van Wyk (C), Khaya Zondo.
