Sarel Erwee’s 84, building on the Dolphins’ great bowling performance, helped crush the Knights by seven wickets in their One-Day Cup match in Durban.
He faced 109 balls, from which he scored 13 fours, leading the way after Attie Maposa (4-46) spearheaded an attack that restricted the basement team to just 193 in 42 overs.
Dolphins coach Grant Morgan has bemoaned the fact that the Dolphins were always too close to the wire. ‘We’ve had four or five last-ball games now and it’s fun for the fans, but it’s not what we ask for,’ he said. ‘We haven’t been on the right side of a lot of those. We want to win a bit more easily.’
He certainly got his wish as the Dolphins won with 81 balls remaining.
The Knights, having elected to bat, were 3-22 in the eighth over before Maposa got to work. Only the dynamic David Miller stood firm with a belligerent 79 off 71 balls, with eight fours and two sixes. He got support only from Werner Coetsee, as they put on 75 for the sixth wicket after the Knights had been reeling at 83-5.
But when Miller fell to a short, sharp delivery from Maposa, which he top-edged to mid-on, the innings went into free-fall once again. Coetsee went on to 38 off 60 balls as he tried to see out the innings, eventually trapped lbw by the left-arm spin of Senuran Muthusamy, but the next best was Marchant de Lange’s 18. He also fell to Muthusamy, who ended with 2-9 off two overs.
Requiring just 4.61 an over, the Dolphins were never pressed. Erwee and Morne van Wyk (22 off 24) put on 41 for the first wicket, and Moonsamy contributed 14 to a partnership of 42 for the second. Khaya Zondo picked up the gauntlet after Erwee went, top-edging a delivery from Shadley van Schalkwyk to deep square leg. He ended on 43 off 64 balls (6×4, 1×6).
The Dolphins leapt up to the top of the log on 18 points, equal with the Cobras, but with a game in hand.
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Photo; Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
