Durban – With plenty of cricket left in the season, the Hollywoodbets Dolphins will have a lot to be positive about following on from the CSA T20 Challenge.
Weather prevented a result in Qualifier 2 which meant that the eventual champions, the Dafabet Warriors, went through to the final due to their higher log position, but so far, it’s been a strong season for the Durban-based outfit.
It was a frustrating end to the campaign as Quinton Friend’s side has regained crucial momentum with three wins in a row going into Friday’s showdown.
Reflecting on the tournament briefly, coach Quinton Friend feels that it was tiny margins that prevented the Dolphins from doing better.
“I don’t really want to look back too much on what happened, but we definitely gave our everything in the competition and if we had one result go our way in Paarl then things could have looked a lot more different,” Friend said.
“I’m really proud of the boys and the attitudes that they showed during the tournament and that fighting spirit they showed when it was needed the most.
“I’m happy with how the boys went about their business in the competition and it’s a positive for us going into this one 4-Day game coming up.”
The Dolphins were put in a tricky situation during the competition with a number of players unavailable because of national duty of SA A duty, however it was the next generation that stood up and contributed.
“We had three of four debutants during the tournament which was a nice way of seeing what we have in our system and how they handle Division 1 cricket. I thought that they handled themselves well and it’s been great to see the rise of Aryan Gopolan and Gomolemo Phiri.
“Nqobani Mokoena was also involved in his first full T20 campaign and handled himself well. These youngsters have shown some good promise, and we are building the squad depth nicely now,” Friend mentioned.
The Dolphins now shift their focus back to red ball cricket with one match left for the year before the players head off to the SA20. It’s been a solid start to the 4-Day Series for the Dolphins and Friend wants the team to finish 2025 on a high.
“We are going to be putting in the hard yards trying to finish off the year strong and giving ourselves the best opportunity to qualify for the 4-Day final after the SA20.
“There are exciting times ahead for us and the boys won’t lack motivation to get back into a format that we have been playing good cricket in.”
The Hollywoodbets Dolphins face the Momentum Multiply Titans in their next 4-Day Series clash at SuperSport Park Centurion from 9-12 December.
Source: cricket.co.za
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