A resolute innings of 83 by Morne van Wyk guided the Dolphins to a seven-wicket win over the Highveld Lions in the One-Day Cup in Durban.
It was not a particularly challenging target, after the Lions had been bowled out for 196, but Van Wyk ensured there would be no slip-up as they secured their place in the semi-finals, stopping the slide after back-to-back losses with 36 balls remaining.
The Dolphins hold third place on 25 points with a game to go, eight points above the Warriors, who sealed fourth place by beating the Knights.
Van Wyk batted off 134 balls, with just eight fours, sharing a stand of 73 with Vaughn van Jaarsveld, who lashed 41 off 38 balls, with six fours and a six, and 88 with Khaya Zondo, who ended with 46 off 70 balls (3×4, 2×6).
Earlier, the spin of Prenelan Subrayen, Imran Tahir and Senuran Muthusamy, an offspin-legbreak-leftarm orthodox combination, severely undermined the Lions’ efforts after they chose to bat first.
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They started well enough, if a little slowly, when they put on 90 runs for the loss of Janneman Malan (20), at which point Subraven got to work. He bowled Reeza Hendricks for 47, and following that up with Wiaan Mulder (0) and Dominic Hendricks (42), to leave the Lions struggling at 141-4.
Muthusamy picked up the pace, first removing Rassie van der Dussen (23) and then breaking a partnership of 46 for the sixth wicket by snapping up Kagiso Rapulana (24) and later adding Aaron Phangiso to his list.
In between, Imran Tahir ended the only other innings of note, that of Ryan Rickelton, who hammered 26 off 23.
Photo: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix
