Dolphins take Standard Bank Cup by three wickets

The KwaZulu-Natal Dolphins won the Standard Bank Cup with a three-wicket victory over the Northerns Titans at Kingsmead on Wednesday in a final that will be remembered for its tension rather than the quality of cricket on display.

Both teams had struggled through their semifinals and on the night neither side was able to establish a clear ascendancy with jittery edgy performances. The match was finally decided by a 50-run partnership off 46 balls for the seventh wicket between Errol Stewart and Jon Kent, and although Kent did not stay to the end his 26-ball 29 and Stewart's unbeaten 25 snatched the game away from the Titans.

The Dolphins were given a sound platform to chase the Titans 214 for four after man of the series Doug Watson had gone cheaply. Ashraf Mall and man of the match Wade Wingfield added 75 for the second wicket with Mall going first for 40 and Wingfield making 61 before he became the fourth man out at 138.

Natal, however, made heavy weather of an understrength Northerns attack. The visitors went into the game with only three-and-a-half recognised bowlers and they lost their half-bowler, captain Gerald Dros, 4.3 overs into his spell when he injured a hand trying to block a drive from Wingfield.

But they were wonderfully served by Johan Myburgh who picked up two for 27 in nine overs with his regulation off breaks while Pierre Joubert gave his team an enormous boost by bowling danger man Lance Klusener for just 5.

There were also two quite wonderful pieces of fielding from Neil McKenzie who took an amazing left-handed catch at extra cover to get rid of Mall and a sharp stop and return to run out Wingfield. In both instances, Jonty Rhodes would have been proud of these efforts.

In the end, though, Natal, who had gone through four attempts before prevailing against Eastern Province in the semifinals, got home with an over to spare.

The Northerns innings was lifted to respectability by Kruger van Wyk's late onslaught. The tiny wicketkeeper, perhaps the shortest man in South African cricket, went after the Natal bowlers in a 37-ball onslaught that brought him an unbeaten 50.

Van Wyk makes up for his lack of height with an impish delight in improvisation and he and Dros, who was not out on 34 off 37 balls, came together in an unbroken fifth-wicket partnership that brought the Titans 85 off the last 74 balls of the innings.

It was a stand that came not a moment too soon for the visitors. Tight bowling on a good batting pitch from the Natalians had kept Northerns in check for the greater part of the innings. There were 50 partnerships for the first wicket between Johan Myburgh and Jacques Rudolph and the third wicket between Martin van Jaarsveld and Neil McKenzie, but for long periods Northerns struggled to throw off the shackles.

And when Gulam Bodi removed Van Jaarsveld and McKenzie with successive deliveries, a total of 200 seemed a long way off for Northerns. Van Wyk and Dros came to the rescue, however, and with Van Wyk taking four boundaries off Shaun Pollock's last over, the Titans had been given a fighting chance.