Dolphins leave Warriors floundering

THE Sunfoil Dolphins condemned the Chevrolet Warriors to their second heavy defeat of the Ram Slam T20 and their ninth loss out of 10 games this season as they won last night's clash at the Sahara Stadium Kingsmead in Durban by 54 runs.

The result meant the Dolphins came away with a bonus point as they built a total of 181 for four before crushing the Warriors' reply, which ended on 127 for eight.

While the Warriors had the better of the first quarter of the match, limiting the Dolphins to 66 for three in their first 10 overs as Jon-Jon Smuts (2 for 21) picked up a couple of cheap wickets, the arrival of Dwayne Bravo quickly swung the momentum.

The West Indian added 93 with Vaughn van Jaarsveld on his Dolphins debut, hitting three sixes in his 43 before Rusty Theron returned to trap him lbw with a vicious inswinger.

Van Jaarsveld continued after Bravo's departure to finish unbeaten on 51 from 33 balls, and enjoyed support from the other end as Robbie Frylinck clobbered three late boundaries.

The Warriors reply never got off the ground as they lost four wickets in the opening four overs and their fifth batsman departed with the score on 33.

At that point, the game's result was hardly in doubt and the question was whether the visitors could get past their lowest score against the Dolphins – the 91 they made in the 2007/2008 season.

They did so thanks to Somila Seyibokwe's 39 and Simon Harmer's 23, but even with the aid of five dropped catches they could not reach the 145 required to deny the Dolphins the bonus point.

Having taken two wickets up front, Craig Alexander grabbed another one at the death to finish with superb figures of 3 for 10 from his four overs.