Knights upbeat ahead of Dolphins showdown

Cape Town - Knights assistant coach Alan Kruger is optimistic about their start to the season ahead of their meeting with the Dolphins in Kimberley starting from Monday in spite of the home side losing their opening game of the campaign to the Cape Cobras in Cape Town this week.

The Central Franchise went down by four wickets at Newlands in a match that could have gone either way.

Even though there was obvious disappointment from both head coach Nicky Boje and Kruger, the latter says there was plenty to build on at the Diamond Oval.

"Yes, we were disappointed, but there were so many things that went for us," he said. "The conditions were very sporting for both sides.

"We lost the toss you must remember and that put us at a disadvantage, but we had a young new side and they showed good character throughout.

"I must say that, although we lost, we by no means handed it over to them. So that is encouraging."

Looking ahead to the Dolphins encounter, Kruger believes the Durban side will present a different challenge.

"They are a different unit, but we have our ducks in a row and ready for what they have to offer," he added.

The Dolphins were not in action this week after launching their campaign with a draw against the Titans the previous week.

Grant Morgan's men did well against the reigning champions, bossing much of the game at Centurion before eventually having to settle for a draw.

The coach of the Durban-based side believes they are steadily improving as a team and hope to build on the opening result when they travel to the Northern Cape.

"If you look at where we are going with our side, we had two new openers, we reshuffled a few other things and we had a new bowling attack that's coming under scrutiny for the first time, then you can see a lot of positives in that opening result," he said.

"We'll still remind the guys in our team meeting that it was a loss on points for us. At the end of the day we had the greater chance to get 10 points and we have to see that as a positive and hopefully build on it going forward."