Fitness test hurdle for Dolphins’ Van Wyk as Lions travel to Durban

DOLPHINS captain Morne van Wyk will have a fitness test for a sprained wrist to determine whether he will be able to play in the Momentum One-Day Cup clash against the Lions at Kingsmead today (2pm).

Despite scoring two ducks in the team’s opening matches against the Knights on Sunday and the Warriors on Wednesday, Van Wyk is a key player for the Dolphins and his absence will be felt. Daryn Smit will take over the gloves if required, though it is unclear who will open the batting with Cameron Delport.

At the moment, watching Vaughn van Jaarsveld is worth the ticket price alone. The lefthander put in a man-of-thematch performance on Sunday with his 82 at the Oval in Pietermaritzburg, and seemed well on his way to another major innings on Wednesday when he was unluckily run out when bowler Andrew Birch deflected a shot from Delport on to the stumps.

This was the second time it had happened in the match, and the third time in the first two rounds of the competition.

The question is whether a batsman can back up properly and still keep his bat in the crease for the vital second or two after the bowler delivers the ball. The answer must surely be yes if batsmen want to avoid what is surely the worst way to get out.

Van Jaarsveld is in wonderful nick – the struggling David Miller would surely give a lot to borrow his form in India – and the Dolphins will be hoping that he can extend his purple patch today.

Van Jaarsveld will need more assistance from his teammates, with Delport failing to build on two starts in his first two matches, and Cody Chetty needs a big innings to kickstart his season.

The bowlers, after an excellent collective effort against the Knights, looked no more than adequate against the Warriors, who punished them to the tune of 270 runs in Port Elizabeth.

They will surely have to improve on that form against arguably the strongest batting line-up in the competition, with Stephen Cook, Rassie van der Dussen, Alviro Petersen, Neil McKenzie and Temba Bavuma a truly formidable top five.

It will also be interesting to see if the perennially underperforming Lonwabo Tsotsobe is worth his national contract, or whether he is still coasting on past glories.

In other matches today, the visiting Warriors will be looking to extend their unbeaten record against the Knights in Bloemfontein, while the televised match features the Cobras against the Titans in Cape Town.