The Dolphins and the Eagles will share South Africa’s premier domestic trophy when they drew a nail-biting SuperSport Series final at Goodyear Park, Bloemfontein on Monday.
At the start of the final day it looked as if the Eagles were going to bat out the day and share the trophy as Morne van Wyk and Jonathan Beukes extended their partnership to 186 as the players broke for lunch at 215 for 3.
Despite the cloud cover, the bowlers struggled to find any lateral movement. The introduction of the new ball brought the breakthrough and Lance Klusener struck twice in consecutive balls as he bowled van Wyk for 130. It had taken the Dolphins four hours to break the 215-run partnership.
The next ball saw Ryan Bailey trapped leg before wicket and hopes returned to the Dolphins team.
Zahir Abrahim then struck three times in four overs as he dismissed Ryan McLaren (13), Cliff Deacon (4) and Dillon du Preez (0) for the Eagles to go to tea at 295 for 8 and a lead of 17 runs.
A tense partnership of 36 runs between Beukes and Thandi Tshabalala followed the tea break with Tshabalala rotating the strike for over an hour before being bowled for 11 by Klusener. The lead had now grown to 53 runs with 16 overs remaining.
When bad light stopped play the Eagles had moved to 345 for 9 with Beukes on a magnificent 135 and Victor Mpitsang on 10. – Sapa