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Cape Town - Having seen his side bailed out of jail by high-quality individual performances in their two wins to date, Dolphins coach, Lance Klusener, is hoping the load will be shared a little wider when they travel to the Diamond Oval for Friday’s Ram Slam T20 clash against the Knights.
While David Miller provided the fireworks required to see off The Titans in the Dolphins’ tournament opener, on Wednesday a sublime century by Kevin Pietersen, in which he scored 115 not out from just 66 balls, proved just enough to beat the Lions.
Although Klusener admits that he’s not too fussy about how his team wins so long as they do win, a bit more support from the rest of the batsmen would certainly be appreciated.
“We got out of jail thanks to one of the best T20 innings you’ll see this season,” Klusener said of Pietersen’s knock. “It’s nice to have the ammunition to be able to do that. Dave did it for us the game before, and KP did it last night.
“I guess the concern is if we leave them a little too much to do, so we’ll need to have a look at that. I’d like to spread the load a little bit.”
The Dolphins have travelled with the same squad that has brought them success in their two games to date, and will assess the pitch before deciding on a final XI.
“Kimberley can be on the slower side so pace off the ball might not be a bad thing, which we’ve pretty much been doing,” said Klusener. “But the wicket is not something you can guess - we’ll have to have a look, and we’ll have the options in our bowling attack.”
The Knights have also opted against making changes after playing a six-over game in their tournament opener against the Warriors, where they were denied a win that could have lifted the mood in the squad as they begin life under a new management team.
New coach, Nicky Boje, could at least take some positives after his side fought back to take the game to a Super Over, and has had another week to work with his players.
“The way the guys stuck through to the end will give us a bit of confidence,” Boje said of the Warriors encounter. “A six-over game is a bit of a lottery, so the guys are looking forward to getting a full game.
“Kimberley is usually a good batting wicket so it will be important that we get all three facets of our game right. But also Twenty20 is about fun, so hopefully the guys will go out there and express themselves.”
