Written by Jason Dewey for @Hollywoodbets. Follow them both on Twitter and Facebook now!
Sunfoil Dolphins vs Chevrolet Warriors | Wednesday 10 February | Kingsmead | 13:45
It’s coming down to the wire with all six franchises still in the hunt for a place in in the knockout stages of the tournament.
Wednesday’s game will see the third-placed Warriors travel to Durban to take on the bottom-placed Dolphins.
To Win Match
Dolphins 1/1
Draw 35/1
Warriors 8/10
Sunfoil Dolphins
The Dolphins will look back at their previous game against the bizhub Highveld Lions with bitter disappointment after falling just eight runs short of their opposition’s total. They were also penalised two log points for a slow over rate, leaving them on the brink of elimination from the competition.
Having won the toss and electing to field, Morne van Wyk’s side managed to restrict the Lions’ scoring in the first 10 overs while claiming the wicket of Stephen Cook. The wicket brought Alviro Petersen to the middle, and he wasted no time in getting stuck into the Dolphins’ attack. He would go on to record his fifth century of this season’s campaign before he was eventually dismissed by Ryan McLaren. The hosts would end their innings on 276-8, a total that the Dolphins would have been confident enough in chasing down.
The chase, however, got off to the worst possible start as Morne van Wyk, Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Cody Chetty were all dismissed cheaply before McLaren and Kyle Nipper steadied the ship with a 117-run partnership. However, when both were dismissed in the space of two overs, the Dolphins’ chase was effectively over; despite the best efforts of Calvin Savage and Keshav Maharaj.
The KZN franchise were stung further following the game after they were penalised two log points for a slow over rate. It’s not the first time this season that Morne van Wyk has struggled in this regard as the issue reared its head during the Ram Slam T20 play-off match against the Cape Cobras late last year.
Chevrolet Warriors
Following a magnificent start to the competition, the Warriors have begun to lose a bit of momentum. Their capitulation last time out at the hands of the Knights was testament to this. Rudi Second carried his bat throughout the Knights’ innings as he recorded his fourth List A century.
Having been set a modest total of 259 by the Bloemfontein franchise, they collapsed to 184 all out. They were torn apart by a six-ball barrage from Mbulelo Budaza, who tore through the Warriors’ top and middle order getting rid of Jon Jon Smuts, Yassen Vallie and Jerry Nqolo.
They were never really in the game from that point on, and even though a number of their batsmen got decent starts, none of them – with the exception of Smuts – were able to kick on and claim a big score.
The Knights were also fantastic with ball in hand, doing a magnificent job of keeping the scoring rate down. Not one of the specialist bowlers returned economy rates exceeding five an over. Still, this was a game that the Warriors would have expected to win.
Verdict: Dolphins 1/1
The Dolphins absolutely have to win this game if they want to keep their tournament hopes alive. They’ll smell blood in the water too, following the poor performance that the Warriors put in last time out. Back the home side at even money.
