Kevin Pietersen and Morne van Wyk scored half-centuries to set the Dolphins up for a 34-run win over the Warriors at Kingsmead and earn a considerable lead at the top of the Ram Slam T20 standings.
Pietersen continued his sensational form as he top-scored with 68 from 44 balls in a Dolphins total of 179-4, which proved well beyond the Warriors on a surface that was on the low side.
Although the visitors made a promising start with Jon-Jon Smuts and Colin Ackermann putting on 44 for the first wicket, they succumbed to an on-song Prenelan Subrayen soon afterwards and ended up being dismissed for 145.
The result put the Dolphins on 16 points after four games – eight ahead of the second-placed Titans, who have played one game less.
Aside from Cameron Delport’s early dismissal, the Dolphins innings went more or less according to plan, with Van Wyk playing the anchor role with his 53 from 43 balls while Pietersen and Miller provided the firepower.
Van Wyk and Pietersen put on 92 for the second wicket in 10.4 overs, and once Pietersen had misjudged the length of an Ackermann delivery and holed out to long-on, Van Wyk added a further 49 in 33 balls with Miller.
The Warriors used no fewer than eight bowlers, but the mixing and matching couldn’t put the Dolphins off their game, and some of the part-timers proved costly – Colin Ingram and Yaseen Vallie conceded 15 and 13 runs in their one-over stints.
Miller’s clean striking in an unbeaten 46 from 25 balls ensured that the Dolphins took 52 from the last five overs, including a six off the final delivery that somewhat ruined the otherwise respectable figures of Sisanda Magala (2-29).
While Andile Phehlukwayo broke the promising opening stand between Smuts (30) and Ackermann, it was Van Wyk’s stumping of the latter batsman that had the greatest impact on the chase, with his sharp thinking finding the batsman out of his crease after attempting a reverse sweep.
Ackermann had looked fluid in his 26, and his departure came in the midst of Subrayen’s first spell, which brought him the key wickets of Ingram and Christiaan Jonker.
The Warriors faltered from there on with Delport’s slow bowling yielding 3-26, and off-spinner Subrayen (4-29) returned later on to wrap up his second four-wicket haul of the tournament and climb to the top of the wicket-taking table.
Although it wasn’t quite enough to earn the Dolphins a bonus point, they can go into a week-long break fully satisfied with a highly productive week that brought three wins out of three.
