Following a positive draw in their opening 4-Day Domestic Series clash, a confident Dolphins side head to Kimberley to take on the Knights starting on Monday.

The men from Durban would have felt unlucky not to have come away from SuperSport Park with a victory as the Titans held on for a draw.

Coach Grant Morgan knows that there is still a lot of work to be done, but he was happy that his side were on the right side of the draw.

‘If you take into consideration the mistakes that we made in Pretoria you can safely say that we were in the stronger position at the end of the four days,’ said Morgan.

‘Although we didn’t beat the Titans on points, at the end of the day we were close to getting all 10 points than they were and that’s positive.’

The Dolphins went into the clash with the Titans with an all-new opening pair of Jason Oakes and Grant Roelofsen, and the pair equipped themselves well against a strong bowling attack. Heading into their showdown with the Knights, the Dolphins will be bolstered by the availability of a handful of their star players.

Dane Vilas returns to the squad as well as Sarel Erwee, which gives Morgan a number of tough decisions to make.

‘When you have a system where you have to leave guys out that are growing, shows that you are in a strong position. Even guys like Morne van Wyk are selectable and even though he might be disappointed that he hasn’t been selected he is still involved, helping and working hard.

‘That sort of attitude just proves that the systems are working and we are on the right path,’ added Morgan

All-rounder Senuran Muthusamy’s game has continued to improve as he plays more first-class cricket and his impressive form culminated in a call-up to the SA ‘A’ tour of India in the winter.

The left-hander is under no illusions as to how difficult the season is going to be but knows that the side is in the correct frame of mind.

‘We are quietly confident that we can improve on what we did last season,’ said Muthusamy. ‘We have earned the respect of the other teams around the country, and they know that playing us is always a tough fixture.

‘There are a number of dangerous players in our squad and when we play well as a unit we will be on the right side of the result more often than not.’

Erwee and Vilas come into the side for Roelofsen and Oakes, while Eathan Bosch also gets selected, with Robbie Frylinck joining the Proteas squad for the upcoming T20I series against Zimbabwe.

Dolphins team
Keshav Maharaj (captain)
Sarel Erwee
Vaughn van Jaarsveld
Cody Chetty
Senuran Muthusamy
Dane Vilas
Sibz Makhanya
Calvin Savage
Eathan Bosch
Okuhle Cele
Kerwin Mungroo
Lifa Ntanzi (12th man)

Photo: Anesh Debiky/Gameplan Media