Having been asked to bowl first in their Sunfoil Series clash with the bizhub Highveld Lions at Bidvest Wanderers, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins restricted the home side to 207/7 on the opening day of the clash.
The Dolphins used the early morning conditions at the Wanderers to their advantage and Kerwin Mungroo struck in the fourth over when he had Stephen Cook caught in the slips for one.
Proteas star Reeza Hendricks and Omphile Ramela set about rebuilding patiently before the former became Eathan Bosch’s first scalp for the Dolphins in red ball cricket.
It was soon after that that the other debutant, Okuhle Cele, nabbed his first Dolphins scalp when he had Rassie van der Dussen caught by Vaughn van Jaarsveld for five.
Cele then followed his first with his second soon after when Dane Vilas caught Dominic Hendricks for a duck leaving the hosts 45/4 in the 20th over.
Two partnerships then dug the Lions out of their early hole with Ramela involved in both, first with Dwaine Pretorius worth 37, and then a more substantial one with Wiaan Mulder to the value of 70 before Ramela fell for a patient 60.
Pretorius became Bosch’s second victim which meant that he returned with figures of 2/32 from 13 overs.
Cele’s two scalps came at miserly rate of just 1.72 runs to the over. Cele’s figures of 2/19 from 11 overs were the second best for the Dolphins on the opening day of the clash.
The in-form Ramela was Senuran Muthusamy’s first victim before he also claimed the wicket of Mulder for 38. The Lions’ hard work had been undone with those late wickets before the players were called from the field for bad light with the home side on 207/7.
Muthusamy returned with the best figures for the visitors when he finished the day with 3/20 in 13 overs of disciplined left-arm spin.
Another notable achievement for the Dolphins was Vaughn van Jaarsveld who took three catches on the opening day of the match with his second catch being his 100th grab in first-class cricket.
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