Dolphins put seven-match winning streak on the line against the Lions

At face value the Dolphins being in second spot in the Four-Day Series doesn’t appear spectacular. 

They’ve won just two matches and have only two batters in the top 20 run scorers in the competition. But they do have the leading wicket-taker in Prenelan Subrayen, who has 31 wickets that include two five-wicket hauls. 

Looked at more broadly, however, the Dolphins are now the hottest team in the country.

Including the One-Day Cup, which they claimed two weeks ago, they are on a seven-match winning streak after their come-from-behind victory over North West last week.

Thanks to Jason Smith’s unbeaten 117, they chased down 240 in the fourth innings, an outcome that saw them elevated to their current spot on the Four-Day log. 

“We are aware of it,” Dolphins head coach Quinton Friend said. 

Free of the injuries that hampered their T20 Challenge campaign, the Dolphins, after a sluggish start, cruised through the One-Day Cup, ignored the controversy that engulfed it at the end, beating the Titans and then Boland to claim the title.

Friend said he was forced to give his players a reality check after the T20 Challenge, when relegation from Division One was a clear and present danger. 

“I felt it was important for the players to understand what promotion and relegation meant,” he said.  

“We weren’t coasting and we had nine injuries in the T20 competition. Though I didn’t want them to become fixated by the relegation part, I felt they needed to see where we had to go because of the seriousness of the situation.” 

That chat was like a smack in the face and stood in contrast to the softer touch Friend has been using to build a strong team culture at the Durban union.

“I only had a month to work with them before the season started,” said Friend, who replaced Imraan Khan. 

“I wanted them to build stronger bonds with each other, become better people, because when you are able to communicate well off the field, then during a game, when you’re in a match situation or in a partnership while batting, it’s easier to talk.”

That ethos has engendered a selfless approach where individual landmarks or ambitions of higher honours are secondary to the needs of the Dolphins. 

“You can’t control whether you will be picked for the Proteas. Sometimes players don’t understand what they have to do to achieve national honours.

“When they are here they have to be 100% committed to the Dolphins, put the Proteas to one side and focus on this space. When you do that the rest will take care of itself.”

Besides the wickets he’s taken, Subrayen’s impact has been profound, especially off the field, said Friend.

“You won’t find two people more driven to play for the Dolphins than Prenelan and Keshav [Maharaj]. It is personal for them because this is their home, they live for the Dolphins.”

Maharaj will miss the remainder of the season with a groin injury, but the fast bowling depth Friend has been desperate to build should see the KwaZulu-Natal side challenge strongly when they face the Lions at the Wanderers from Thursday.

Okuhle Cele and Daryn Dupavillon have provided excellent support for Subrayen.

“Daryn is in the best form of his career and when we go to the Wanderers we could have Cele, Eathan Bosch and Tristan Luus. We’ll just have to see about the conditions up there.”

The Lions hold a healthy 17-point lead atop the log and remain on course to host the final for the second consecutive season. 

They have three batters who’ve scored more than 300 runs, including Bjorn Fortuin, who has made two hundreds. Besides his runs, Fortuin has also taken 16 wickets, six of those in the rain-shortened match against Boland in Paarl last week.

“There’s a reason they are top of the table, but we are in that past of the season where it’s about performing game by game,” said Friend.

“The seven-match winning streak doesn’t matter this week, nor does our game in Gqeberha next week. Our full attention is on the Wanderers; it should be good.”