Dolphins looking for elusive Sunfoil Series win
With six draws from their first six games of the Sunfoil Series, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins head to Port Elizabeth hoping to claim a victory that has eluded them throughout the four-day season when they clash with the Warriors from Thursday to Sunday.
The Dolphins began the second half of the Sunfoil Series last week in Bloemfontein and Grant Morgan’s men started the game slowly which put them well and truly on the back foot.
A strong rear-guard effort in their follow-on innings helped them secure a draw, however if they are to push for overall series honours they need to play on the front foot more often.
“I would say that we have only shown hints of our A game here and there throughout the season,” coach Morgan stressed. “We owe ourselves our A game at least three times out of the next four games.
“For me the thing is that we lose small portions of a four day game badly in both batting and bowling.
“The frustrating part is that we are spending too much time on the back foot in games and have to recoup games through some massive fightbacks.
“We can’t carry on like this because we are losing crucial first innings points and we are getting to a stage where we need to win but if we can’t we need to stay in touch and get those first innings points.”
Despite battling to get wickets against the Knights last week, Morgan has gone with the same bowling line up with the inexperience not being a problem for the Durban sides mentor.
“Our attack can nip the ball around and I am hoping that we can improve on our performance last week.
“I think there might have been some nerves for the guys but we are going to back them and see what they can come up with down in PE.
“We are taking down the same eleven that played last week and we have added Prenelan Subrayen and Daryn Dupavillon to the squad.
“Daryn has a bit of an injury and probably won’t play but we want him to be back in the mix after such a long time and he can work with the trainer and maybe bowl a bit as well,” the coach added.
The Durban-based outfit’s last trip to St George’s Park yielded a bonus point victory in the Momentum One Day Cup and with Morgan’s knowledge of the conditions and the wicket, his side should be confident they can break their streak of drawn matches.
“You can really get any kind of wicket there and I definitely see it as a result wicket,” Morgan said.
“The Warriors do have an ability to bowl well against us and with our recent relationship with the Warriors; that gives the game a nice little edge too.
“We can put a lot of pressure on them by getting our batting right in the first innings and we have various ways of getting 20 wickets, but that’s going to be the challenge.”
HOLLYWOODBETS DOLPHINS SQUAD:
Sarel Erwee, Morne Van Wyk, Vaughn Van Jaarveld, Senuran Muthusamy, Sibonelo Makhanya, Dane Vilas, Keshav Maharaj (Captain), Robert Frylinck, Athi Maposa, Kerwin Mungroo, Zakariya Paruk, Daryn Dupavillon, Prenelan Subrayen.