Standard Bank Series: KwaZulu Natal-Border preview

Next Wednesday (December 2), the Dolphins travel to Paarl for a Standard Bank League match against Boland and then host Eastern Province at Kingsmead on the Friday. With pinch-hitter Keith Forde back from his business trip to Canada, as well as their national players available for both fixtures, the Dolphins must focus on winning both those games to keep themselves in with a shout in the tournament.

In response to their latest Supersport Series defeat - by 134 runs against Border yesterday, the president of the KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union, Robbie Kurz, said that the union ``would not be pressing the panic button. All we can do is to regroup and look to the one-dayers,'' he said.

Kurz confirmed that the convener of the national selectors, Peter Pollock, had said that, ``all things being equal'', Jonty Rhodes and Shaun Pollock would be released for the two one-dayers following the conclusion of the first test against the West Indies on the Monday.

Kurz added that despite Boland's recent problems with the Paarl square, three pitches had been identified on which limited-overs cricket could satisfactorily be played. ``We will definitely be going to Paarl,'' he said.

It's understandable that the Dolphins' management should be looking to the future after a dismal last three weeks when they managed 10 points from three matches, a massive 57 points behind log-leaders Border who have emerged as serious title contenders after the completion of half their programme.

Sharing bottom position with Boland, a province in serious administrative and cricketing disarray, is nothing to be proud of and the Dolphins have it all to do to recover their self-confidence and motivation.

It says a lot about the gulf between the two teams at the weekend that the visitors could commit a major strategic blunder and still comfortably win the match.

Despite being shot out for 106 on Saturday afternoon after inexplicably deciding not to enforce the follow-on, Border still had enough runs in hand to cruise to victory early yesterday afternoon. Set to make 365 for victory, the Dolphins began the day on 122/2 with Errol Stewart and Andrew Hudson at the crease.

Clearly, a substantial partnership from these two was essential if even vague thoughts of victory were to be entertained.

However, only 25 further runs were added before Stewart pushed forward outside the off-stump to Makhaya Ntini and edged a straightforward catch to Mark Boucher. The caretaker captain had done more than his share, having scored half-centuries in both innings, but he needed better support from his team-mates.

Rain forced an early lunch at 189/4, but when the players returned, Hudson was soon out leg before to Vasbert Drakes driving across the line. Drakes was now operating with the new ball and he cleaned up the tail promptly, finishing with fine figures of 5/50.

Assessing the wreckage of their season afterwards, Stewart put the problem succinctly: ``We're not scoring enough runs and we're not bowling sides out.

``At the Wanderers we were out there for 146 overs; in this match we were took 148 overs to get them out. We're facing intimidating targets and the effect is debilitating.

``As for the batting, we get on a roll and then we collapse. At the Wanderers we lost our last seven wickets for 20-odd runs while today we lost seven wickets for 87. We're not consolidating enough and we're not converting our fifties into hundreds. Obviously, it's not acceptable.''

Stewart said he wasn't worried about the spirit of the team or the amount of effort they were putting in at practice. ``The spirit is good and the guys are putting in as much or more work than they usually do. It's difficult to put my finger on the exact nature of the problem. Whether it's application or not I can't really say. What is clear is that something is lacking.''