Dolphins fired up to mount a late challenge

THE Dolphins travelled to Bloemfontein yesterday ahead of their Sunfoil Series clash against the Knights starting today.

The Dolphins have taken a strong squad to the city of bloom as they look to mount a late challenge in the fourday competition.

Coach Grant Morgan will hand a debut to Zakariya Paruk, the young batsman who has come in and made an impression for the amateur side.

Paruk, still just 19, will slot into the lower middle-order and his medium pace will be part of an attack that will be looking to get the 20 wickets the Dolphins need for victory.

“We will go with Morné van Wyk and Sarel Erwee up top with Vaughn van Jaarsveld three and Sen DOLPHINS SQUAD players to the national oneday side but he does retain the services of Maharaj for a few more weeks, which will be vital to the cause.

Maposa got the jump on Mthokozisi Shezi, while Mungroo has again worked his way into the franchise side. They make up a squad that has a touch of experience and quite a bit of youth.

“We are taking a fairly new-look side which has a good mixture of experience and youth and to have Keshav’s leadership there is great too,” Morgan said.

Maharaj has a major series against Australia to build towards and he will look to get a lot of overs under the belt. He has been in dominant form with the ball for the Dolphins in franchise cricket, and the expectation is for him to lead from the front.

“It will be a case of finding the energy and focus again, but the guys will be alright. We had a few days off after the (One-Day Cup) final so I think the boys are good,” Morgan said.

The Dolphins are well up for the four-day portion of the season that is left to be completed. They have already secured one trophy, and Morgan is still not writing off the possibility of doing the double.

“There is a 17.72 point difference between us in fifth and the Titans at the top,” Morgan said. “We know where we want to go from here and I’ve worked out that we will probably need three wins out of the five games and a total of 164 points. That means we need around 100 more points if we are going to win the series.”

That is the mission and the Dolphins will have to start that process in Bloem.