The Knights and the Dolphins will both be looking to bounce back from defeats when they face each other at the Mangaung Oval in Bloemfontein on Wednesday.

The Central franchise were handed a 64-run defeat against the Warriors over the weekend, failing to chase down a modest 186 in Kimberley, while their opponents from KwaZulu-Natal lost by three wickets to the Cape Cobras in Pietermaritzburg.

Fortunately for the Knights, the defeat came in just their second match of the campaign and coach Nicky Boje remains optimistic over their prospects.

‘Preparation for last week’s game was tough with the amount of rain around,’ he said. ‘Fortunately this week has been much better and we’re looking forward to bouncing back against the Dolphins.

‘We’ve learnt a lot from the loss to the Warriors, I think it was just one of those games and fortunately it came early in the competition. We’ve just played two games so far compared to others with three and four, hopefully we can capitalise on that as well.’

Even though log positions matter little at this early stage, the Knights are fourth on the standings, three points behind their visitors.

‘They’ve done well so far, even though they lost their last game,’ Boje added. ‘They have good individual players, so we’ll have to watch out for that, but we’re prepared and we’re confident.’

The Dolphins, meanwhile, were brought back down to earth after the successive wins that boosted their start to the campaign.

Coach Grant Morgan tried to take the positives out of that loss as he prepared his players for their latest task.

‘There were positives from all aspects of the game on Sunday but there were also a few little negative things,’ he said.

‘I think each and every guy knows that they could have contributed a tiny bit to our batting innings but I am not going to blame anyone.

‘It is a collective thing and I think if each player could have found an extra run or two then those 22 runs would have made the difference.’

Photo: Frikkie Kapp/Gallo Images