A week ago, nobody in Durban would have given the Hollywoodbets Dolphins the faintest chance of reaching the final of the CSA One-Day Cup. On Wednesday night they achieved precisely that when they beat the high-flying Momentum Multiply Titans by 65 runs in the qualifier at Kingsmead.
They will now face Goldrush Boland in the final in Paarl on Sunday.
Last Sunday, when the Dolphins faced the North West Dragons in their final log match, they knew that even a bonus-point win wouldn’t have been enough if the Titans won their last match.
As it turned out, both teams won, but there was a South African twist in the tail.
The Dafabet Warriors, it transpired, had breached CSA protocols relating to the composition of teams the previous month, ironically against the Dolphins.
Though the Warriors won the game comfortably they only picked two Black Africans, instead of three, in their team.
The result, only announced nearly a month later, was that the Warriors were docked five points and the Dolphins awarded the game.
That transformed positions 2-4 behind finalists Boland with the Dolphins finishing second, the Titans third and the Warriors fourth.
Even then the Dolphins hardly looked like winners for the first two-thirds of their innings.
On a slow, sticky pitch that made free strokeplay very difficult, the Dolphins sank to 91 for five in the 27th over.
At that stage Hanu Viljoen and Eathan Bosch combined to add 86 in 106 balls for the sixth wicket and the home team went on the compile 228 for eight – a respectable total in the conditions but hardly intimidating.
But the Titans, who enjoy the conditions at Centurion where their batters are given every assistance, were a different team in the difficult Kingsmead conditions.
Their problems began with a run-out when Bosch brilliantly threw down the stumps after Rivaldo Moonsamy hesitated over whether to take a quick single.
And then Tristan Luus got the big fish, Lhuan-dre Pretorius, who got a leading edge to a delivery he attempted to turn to leg, the ball spooning up to Bryce Parsons at point.
The collapse continued when skipper Neil Brand pulled Prenelan Subrayen straight to mid-on; then Jhedli van Briesies was castled by Keshav Maharaj who had made himself available for the Dolphins.
Luus went for plenty of runs, 48 in 6.4 overs, but he also collected plenty of wickets, also getting Keegan Petersen nicely caught at point by Khaya Zondo and then stopping Dayyaan Galiem in his tracks for 32 when he threatened a late surge by the Titans.
The key scalp for the home team, however, was that of Dewald Brevis who took the attack to the Dolphins, smashing four sixes and a four in his 36 in 25 balls.
But the youngster attempted one brave stroke too many against Maharaj and he skied the ball to Jason Smith at backward point.
Former Dolphin Andile Phehlukwayo briefly threatened resistance but he was caught on the long-on boundary attempting to smash Maharaj for six.
The Titans’ innings then ended with another runout as Schalk Engelbrecht forgot to run his bat in when Maharaj’s throw broke the stumps.
Maharaj was the star of the Dolphins’ attack, claiming 3-37 in his 10 overs, while Luus grabbed 3-48.
Subrayen bowled tidily to take 1-35 and Smuts also did well to take 1-26.
SEASON'S BEST FOR PHEHLUKWAYO
Phehlukwayo had earlier grabbed a season-best 4-29 to help restrict the Hollywoodbets Dolphins to what seemed to be a modest total.
The home team, put in to bat by the Titans, crawled along at just over three to the over until the 37th over when Viljoen and Bosch increased the intensity.
Viljoen lofted a straight drive for four off offspinner Engelbrecht while Bosch went one better, driving him into the stands.
The last 14 overs realised 108 runs, lifting the run-rate to 4.6 runs per over by the end of the innings.
The partnership that built the foundations came from Viljoen and Bosch.
Coming together on 91 for five in the 27th over, the pair initially played conservatively, knowing that any further loss of wickets could be fatal.
The first six of the innings, in fact, came from Bosch in that 37th over.
Four more were to follow it, including a splendid climax for the Dolphins when skipper Subrayen belted two straight drives into the Friendship Pavilion off the final two deliveries from Dayyaan Galiem who was the only Titans’ bowler to really suffer, conceding 57 runs in his six overs.
Once again it was Viljoen who caught the eye.
The 23-year-old from Pretoria, who showed such promise for the Northern Cape Heat in Division 2, has now scored half-centuries in his last three innings and his temperament was rock solid once again.
His 57 in 65 balls – a good rate in the circumstances – included four fours and a six.
But if the last quarter of the Dolphins’ innings was encouraging for the home fans, it was the Titans who held sway most of the time.
The Dolphins’ top-order were unable to judge the slow pace of the pitch and Dithole, Smuts, Parsons and Jason Smith all playing too early at deliveries, offering soft catches in the inner ring, or in Smuts’s case, bowled through the gate playing too early.
The conditions were perfect for Phehlukwayo who took pace off the ball and bowled a variety of deliveries that bamboozled the batters.
He was offered good support from spinners Roelof van der Merwe (2-33 off nine overs), Engelbrecht (1-38 off nine), and Brand (1-38 off 10) who shackled the batters for the most part on the slow surface – the same pitch that was used in the Dolphins’ last home match.
But in the end it was the Dolphins who prospered in their own conditions and the Titans were simply unable to challenge them.
