A quick fifty from Jon Jon Smuts underpinned a seven-wicket win for the Warriors over the Dolphins in the CSA T20 Challenge.
Offered a meagre target of 116 for victory, Smuts set the tone of the chase by smashing 16 runs off the first over with two sixes and a four. He became almost pedestrian after that, taking another 32 balls to reach his 54, adding just one more six and four fours.
If the Dolphins hopes were raised when Andile Phehlukwayo dismissed Somila Seyibokwe (3) and Colin Ingram (4), they were soon dashed as Colin Ackermann carried on the onslaught, hitting 41 off 39 (2×4, 2×6) to see his team home with 25 balls remaining.
The Dolphins were on the back foot from the moment they were sent in to bat on their home turf, with Cameron Delport (1) and Khaya Zondo (0) back in the hut with just three runs on the board.
They were three down for 22 after the powerplay, as Sisanda Magala joined Andrew Birch and Basheeru-Deen Walters on the wickets list, bowling Vaughn van Jaarsveld for 1.
That all required a bit of rebuilding, but no one was able to put down an anchor to hold the innings together. Solo Nqweni (2-14)’s medium pace tore out the middle order and Birch took two wickets to cut off the tail in the final over, ending with 3-16.
A run rate of 5.75 was never going to be enough.
Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
