Dolphins need the win

IT was an act of extreme cruelty to allow Vasbert Drakes to hurl the new ball at the Natal batsmen in the dark in the exciting finalé to their crucial SuperSport Series Super Eight match against Border in East London, but another most impressive innings from Errol Stewart meant the batsmen survived and Natal are still in with a chance of reaching the final should they beat Northerns in their last game, starting at Kingsmead on Friday.

Third-placed Natal are now 10 points behind Border, who still have a game in hand, and 17 adrift of leaders Gauteng, who are currently embroiled in a disciplinary hearing for allegedly tampering with the covers before their match against Boland in Paarl in early December.

Gauteng could lose some points from that game, but just how many is the key question for Natal supporters. Ideally, the United Cricket Board should grasp the nettle and make an example of Gauteng for interfering in a realm that is strictly the groundsman's, a decision to dock them of all 16 of their points from that match would certainly be greeted with acclaim by Phil Russell and his Natal team.

Russell said Tuesday that the selectors were very happy with the way the Natal team performed in the second half of their drawn match against Border and the same XI have been chosen for the Northerns game. "That was a proper cricket match, what with Vasbert taking the new ball in the dark," Russell said. "But we played very well to come back from 10 for three and 40 for four and nearly win the game."

While Stewart continued his regal form with an unbeaten 84, Dale Benkenstein and Jon Kent both scored very fine half-centuries before Natal gave up the chase when the ninth wicket fell, leaving Gary Gilder to bat out six balls to secure the draw. "I thought we were going to bring it off when Errol and Jon were going so well. But we lost Kent in the first over after tea and once we had lost nine wickets and it was difficult to see the ball, we closed shop," Russell said.

Wicketkeeper Stewart, an international in 1993/94 and currently top of the SuperSport Series batting averages, came in for particular praise from his coach. "He batted brilliantly to not only get us out of some tricky spots, but also to the brink of victory."

After their miserable performance against Free State in last week's day/nighter at Kingsmead, the Natal bowlers put in a much stronger showing in East London and Russell was particularly pleased with their second innings effort when they kept themselves in the game by dismissing Border for just 190 after the hosts had claimed a first-innings lead of 136. He added that the unpredictable Buffalo Park pitch also took some getting used to. "In the first innings we bowled too short, the pitch was not like Kingsmead or the Wanderers, but in the second innings we bowled a fuller length and tightened up our line and did really well on a very hot and windy day. But it took both our batsmen and bowlers the first innings to get used to the pitch," Russell said.

The former groundsman supreme would no doubt also like to see a Kingsmead pitch showing a bit more life than usual this season for the Northerns game. A draw will be of no use to Natal and Russell may well be using his "Derbyshire charm" to sweet-talk new Kingsmead curator Wilson Ngobese in the next few days.

Natal team: Doug Watson, Mark Bruyns, Ahmed Amla, Dale Benkenstein (capt), Andrew Hudson, Errol Stewart, Jon Kent, Ross Veenstra, Eldine Baptiste, Kevin Pietersen and Gary Gilder. Twelfthman Warren Hauptfleisch.