The Dolphins slumped to their third defeat in the CLT20, despite Robbie Frylinck’s all-round effort, in their Group A match against the Lahore Lions in Bangalore.

The Dolphins openers walked out in pursuit of 165 with the knowledge that it’s a notoriously difficult ground for the bowlers to defend a total. The boundaries are short, the outfield is quick and the ball flies a long way in Bangalore. Any over-confidence would have been knocked as early as the fifth delivery of the innings, though, as Cameron Delport was bowled for a golden duck.

After getting a rough decision in the previous game, Morne van Wyk was striking the ball cleanly. The batsmen at the other end, however, were finding life more difficult as three wickets fell inside the first five overs. Van Wyk remained positive and guided the Dolphins to 44-3 at the end of the powerplay.

A partnership between Van Wyk and Jonathan Vandiar threatened to wrestle the game away from the Lahore Lions, but they fell for 36 and 29, respectively. Once the two had gone, the spinners got a lot of assistance and the new batsmen found it difficult to get any rhythm.

The innings got caught in the sticky web spun by the Lahore Lions spin bowlers. They middle-overs ended the game as a contest as the Dolphins slumped to 89-8 at the end of 15 overs. Despite some entertaining hitting from Robbie Frylinck on his 30th birthday, who finished on 63 not out off 27 balls, the innings concluded on 148-9, condemning them to a 16-run defeat.

Lahore Lions Innings:

The Dolphins took to the field with a lot of energy, in search of their first victory in the CLT20. Frylinck got them off to the perfect start by removing both openers. Kyle Abbott then stuck from the other end to reduce the Lahore Lions to 29-3 at the end of the powerplay.

Delport continued to apply pressure with his slow cutters and was rewarded with a wicket in the eighth over. That brought Umar Akmal to the crease, with the scoreboard reading 34-4.

Akmal changed the tempo of the innings from the moment he arrived in the middle. He showed why he’s an international player and went about getting the Lahore Lions a competitive total. He put on 92 runs with Saad Nasim, before the latter became Frylinck’s third victim.

Akmal continued to fire at the other end, finishing the innings with an unbeaten 73 off 45 deliveries. His knock took the Lahore Lions to 164-5 at the end of their allotted overs.

Report compiled by Gareth Stevens.

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