Ken Borland

There will be no radical change in plan for the bizhub Highveld Lions following their first defeat in the Momentum One-Day Cup and heading into Wednesday’s match against the Sunfoil Dolphins in Durban.

The Lions set the early pace in the competition with four impressive victories, before their unbeaten run was ended last week by the Chevrolet Knights in Potchefstroom. In a rain-interrupted match, the Lions scored 250 for seven before the Knights chased down a Duckworth/Lewis-adjusted target of 204 in 33 overs with six wickets and seven balls to spare, thanks to a brilliant partnership of 64 in 7.5 overs between Obus Pienaar and Ryan McLaren.

“We were obviously disappointed to lose, you never want a winning run to end, but it was one of those games where we didn’t do anything drastically wrong, but lots of small mistakes added up against us. But it was a great partnership between Obus and Ryan, the game was in the balance and they took it away. But it’s certainly not panic stations for us,” Lions captain Stephen Cook told Sapa on Monday.

The loss has allowed the Nashua Titans to eat away at the Lions’ lead at the top of the log, with the north-eastern Gautengers now trailing by six points. The Dolphins are in third place, nine points behind the Lions and Cook recognises the importance of returning to winning ways.

“It’s incredibly difficult to go through a competition unbeaten, that would mean winning 11 straight games, but obviously our goal is to finish first on the log and in that way qualify directly for the final. But the games come thick and fast in this competition and it’s important that we focus on one at a time,” Cook said.

The Lions have traditionally done well when they travel to Durban, the pitch often being similar to what they have at the Wanderers.

“We’ve generally done well at Kingsmead, the pitch has bounce like at the Wanderers, even though it’s been more tennis ball bounce lately. But the beauty of the franchise system is that every team is strong and we expect the Dolphins to be tough to beat, especially after two wins. We want to do well both at home and away and we will have to be right on our game to beat them,” Cook said.

The Lions saw off the Dolphins by 89 runs in their match in Johannesburg, but the KwaZulu-Natalians have beaten the Knights and the Titans since then and Cook sees them as a real threat.

“I sense a bit of a resurgence in their team. They played good cricket earlier in the season but just didn’t quite get over the line. But they have dangerous bowlers and hitters.”

The in-form Lions opening batsman singled out the Dolphins attack – and Kyle Abbott, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, the “skilful” Robbie Frylinck and pacy Craig Alexander in particular – as key factors and much will depend on how the visitors’ batsmen fare at Kingsmead.

The use of experienced spinners in Nicky Boje and Werner Coetsee in the middle overs was how the Knights stymied the Lions batting in their only defeat thus far, but the Dolphins do not have slow bowlers of the same pedigree.

The Lions will be hoping both opening batsman Gulam Bodi and fast bowler Hardus Viljoen recover quickly from their fitness problems.

Bodi is expected to be back at the top of the order after missing the Knights loss due to illness, but Viljoen had to see a doctor on Monday and the competition’s leading wicket-taker is doubtful for the game in Durban.

Cook said the Lions had full confidence, however, in back-up pacemen Ethan O’Reilly and Garnett Kruger.

With the rare taste of defeat in their mouths, the Lions will be keen to return to the winning path and the Dolphins can expect sharp and motivated opposition on Wednesday.

The BidVest Wanderers pitch is dangerous and unplayable, so the umpires have abandoned the MiWay T20 Challenge match between the bizhub Highveld Lions and Sunfoil Dolphins in Johannesburg on Friday.

http://www.supersport.com/cricket/domestic-t20/news/120316/LionsDolphins_match_abandoned

Reserve umpire Dennis Smith told SuperSport.com that the pitch was still too wet after two days of rain and the process of sweating under the covers. Dangerous divots were being formed where the ball pitched and a number of deliveries had already spat up viciously or come slowly off the surface.

The Lions had made their way to 24 for two in six overs after being sent in to bat when umpires Murray Brown, Adrian Holdstock and Smith abandoned the match.

Jonathan Vandiar (6) had skied a pull off Fidel Edwards high to deep mid-on, where Robbie Frylinck took a well-judged catch.

Quinton de Kock scored two before he tried to push Frylinck away on the leg-side, but the ball got stuck in the pitch, the batsman being far too early on the shot, and the ball came off the back of the bat and looped high to deep backward point.

Gulam Bodi was not out on 10 and Neil McKenzie had yet to face a ball when the umpires, their chief concern being the safety of the players on a thoroughly unpredictable surface, called the match off.

The No Result continues the unbelievably wretched luck of the Dolphins, who had four successive games washed out and then lost their previous outing against the Chevrolet Knights when rain intervened.

The two teams will earn two points each, which means the Lions will have to lose their last league fixture, against the New Age Impi in Benoni on Wednesday, and the Knights or Titans record two bonus-point victories for them to be overtaken at the top of the log.

It was no surprise to Dolphins coach Lance Klusener on Thursday when he arrived in Johannesburg and saw the rain that has all but vanquished his team’s MiWay T20 Challenge hopes had followed them up to the Highveld.

Klusener’s side are in Johannesburg to take on the powerful Highveld Lions in Johannesburg on Friday and have to win with a bonus point and hope other results go their way to maintain their interest in the playoffs.

The coach was accompanied to Gauteng by the same squad that lost on Wednesday night to the Knights by just eight runs after rain intervened and the Duckworth/Lewis calculations failed to favour the Dolphins.

That followed a run of four consecutive wash-outs, but Klusener was philosophical as he surveyed the soggy view outside his Johannesburg hotel window on Thursday.

“We’re pretty much stuffed, we can’t fight the umpires, the opposition and then the weather on top of all that! I think we had the run-chase set up against the Knights but the rain swirled around and came back, which was unfortunate.

“But we’ll come out smoking against the Lions and we need to pursue whatever slim chances we have to make the playoffs,” Klusener told The Witness.

Klusener said the Dolphins’ work in the field against the Knights had pleased him, especially the fine debut made by Prenelan Subrayen, who took two for 13 in four excellent overs of off-spin.

“I’m very happy for him because he’s travelled around with us for a while without getting a game. We did really well in the field, especially after the start the Knights made.”

The Lions are comfortably on top of the log after winning seven of their 10 matches and one of the keys to beating them will be to take regular wickets against an in-form top-order that has seen Quinton de Kock, Neil McKenzie, Gulam Bodi and Jonathan Vandiar all shining with the bat.

But the Dolphins will firstly be looking to solve their own top-order batting woes, with a good start being essential against an attack that boasts the leading wicket-taker in Chris Morris and two threatening left-arm fast bowlers in Australian Dirk Nannes and Pakistan’s Sohail Tanveer.

Dolphins squad – Loots Bosman, Cameron Delport, Imraan Khan, Cody Chetty, Vaughn van Jaarsveld, David Miller, Daryn Smit (wk), Kyle Abbott, Robbie Frylinck, Prenelan Subrayen, Fidel Edwards, Mthokozisi Shezi, Ahmed Amla.