The Dolphins will be aiming to bounce back from a poor performance last month when they face the Titans in a top-of-the-table Supersport Series cricket clash in Pietermaritzburg, starting on Thursday.
As the competition reaches the halfway mark, the Titans find themselves with a handy 11-point lead over joint champions the Dolphins. However, Martin van Jaarsveld’s men will know that there’s plenty of cricket still to be played in the competition and it’s far too soon to relax.
Their confidence, though, will be up after a brilliant, come-from-behind win against the Warriors in their last fixture in mid-December. Trailing by 154 runs on the first innings, the Titans bounced back through a fine century by Faf du Plessis to win by six wickets as they chased down 259 in the fourth innings.
By contrast, the Dolphins collapsed miserably to lose by an innings to the Diamond Eagles, their first loss of the season as they conceded the top log position to the Titans.
Now Ahmed Amla’s team must bounce back from that setback to prevent the Titans from taking a firm grip on the title race.
The Diamond Eagles will be hoping the Christmas break hasn’t robbed them of any momentum after scoring their first win of the season in mid-December.
On Wednesday, they host basement team Cape Cobras, who will be desperate to start the new year on a more positive note after a depressing display so far in the four-day competition.
All the teams will be missing players to the Rest of South Africa team to play the touring Pakistanis, a three-day game that starts in Kimberley on Saturday. The Diamond Eagles will be without key batsmen in Boeta Dippenaar and Morne van Wyk, while the Cobras will be missing Paul Adams and JP Duminy.
The Warriors will have their resources tested against the Highveld Lions in Johannesburg. Besides losing Arno Jacobs and Johan Botha to the Rest of South Africa side, skipper Zander de Bruyn (finger) and Nantie Hayward (shoulder) are sidelined by injuries.
In a major blow for the Eastern Cape franchise, De Bruyn looks set to miss the rest of the competition with a broken right index finger he suffered in their last game. He has had a pin inserted and this will probably keep him sidelined for the next month. HD Ackerman steps into the captaincy role in De Bruyn’s absence.
The Lions are without Vaughn van Jaarsveld and Garnett Kruger, but skipper Neil McKenzie, Alviro Petersen and Justin Ontong are capable of putting an inexperienced Warriors attack under pressure. They did that in their last match against the Cobras and came away with a crucial and decisive victory shortly before the Christmas break. — Sapa
Fixtures
Dolphins vs Titans in Pietermaritzburg, Diamond Eagles vs Cape Cobras in Bloemfontein, Highveld Lions vs Warriors in Johannesburg.