Bad light denies Dolphins

Dolphins will feel aggrieved after bad light play a large part in denying them victory against Warriors in East London as they finished three wickets short of the win having earned a big first-innings lead. For Warriors, who earned an upset victory last week, there will be relief that all the hard work was not thrown away.

In the only fixture this week, Dolphins chose to bat and slumped to 139 for 5 before Cody Chetty rallied with Daryn Smit. The pair put on 94 for the sixth wicket and Chetty was the only Dolphins batsmen to cross the half-century mark. Andrew Birch and Simon Harmer finished with three apiece as the Dolphin were bowled out for 296.

But, Warriors fared far worse. Kyle Abbott's swing saw them lose their first wicket without a run on the board and their last with only 154 to show for themselves. Abbott ended with 6 for 64 and Dolphins took a 142-run lead into the second innings.

With conditions still favouring bowlers, Dolphins posted another low score. Birch, Basheer Walters and a surprise wicket-taker in Colin Ingram shared nine wickets between them and only Vaughn van Jaarsveld's 73 pushed Dolphins to 220 although that represented a daunting target of 363, an unlikely feat considering that they would have had to score the match's highest total.

Abbott and Craig Alexander made early breakthroughs and Warriors were 38 for 2 inside 10 overs. At 146 for 7 the game looked over but Harmer and Birch kept the Dolphins bowlers a bay. They added 59 before the light closed in to help them in their task.

Every franchise has now played two matches in the Sunfoil Series. Cobras lead the points table but only have 0.94 advantage over Warriors. Lions are 4.04 points off the lead in third place with one win. Neither Dolphins or Knights have won a match yet and lie fourth and fifth while last season's defending champions, Titans, bring up the rear.