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Boland cruise to bonus-point win over Dolphins

rugby19 February 2025 17:45| © MWP
By:Patrick Compton
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Goldrush Boland cruised to a six-wicket bonus-point victory over the Hollywoodbets Dolphins in their CSA One–Day Cup clash at a steamy Boland Park in Paarl on Wednesday.

It was Boland’s second consecutive bonus-point victory in the competition to enable them to shoot to the top of the table.

With their expert spin attack on a typically slow, spin-friendly track– and with another two home games to look forward to – Boland will be looking forward to a good campaign.

By contrast, the Dolphins have lost both their matches, both to bonus points, and sit at the bottom of the log.

They now face a struggle – not only to rise up the table – but more seriously to avoid relegation to Division 2 next season after a very disappointing season to date in all three formats.

Boland’s quartet of potent spin bowlers claimed all 10 wickets as the Dolphins were dismissed for 174 in 49.4 overs after the visitors had won the toss and chosen to bat.

Only Jon-Jon Smuts (43), Bryce Parsons (50) and Khaya Zondo (39) contributed substantially to their total.

Boland had little trouble chasing that target with former Dolphin Grant Roelofsen striking an aggressive 52 to get the home team off to a good start after the loss of Pieter Malan, bowled by Subrayen for 10.

Roelofsen was then partnered by Gavin Kaplan to add a further 56 off 84 balls for the second wicket.

Kaplan went on to reach his first List A 50 in 81 balls before he was run out.

Victory was already assured, however, and Von Berg and Clyde Fortuin ensured the bonus point with one over to spare.

The Dolphins’ spinners were unable to turn the ball as substantially as their counterparts and they bowled too many loose deliveries to apply much pressure on the Boland batters. 

Subrayen was tidy but rarely threatening with paceman Andile Simelane the best of the bowlers, conceding only 12 runs in his four overs.

To be fair to the Dolphins, the pitch behaved better in the second half of the match, offering less turn and a little more pace, possibly the result of the heavy roller being used at the interval.

BOLAND SPINNERS DOMINATE DOLPHINS

Earlier, the Dolphins – captained by Subrayen in place of the injured Marques Ackerman – won the toss and chose to bat first. 

After the early dismissal of Sarel Erwee, who succumbed to a loose shot in the second over, chipping offspinner Imran Manack to cover, the Dolphins made a fine recovery through a second-wicket partnership of 91 in 21 overs from Jon-Jon Smuts and Bryce Parsons.

Both batters played astutely on the wearing pitch, choosing the right balls to hit, largely those that were too full, too wide or too short.

As they became used to the conditions, the scoring rate picked up from a particularly slow start in which the first powerplay only produced 24 runs.

The partnership was broken by legspinner Shaun von Berg who trapped Smuts leg before with his slider for an excellent 43 in 63 balls.

That was the high point of the Dolphins’ innings and Smuts’s dismissal saw the innings flounder as the Boland spinners took charge, claiming the remaining eight wickets for 82 runs.

The most encouraging innings was played by Parsons who struck his second List A 50, but it was his mode of dismissal that was especially frustrating for the visitors.

Just after reaching his half-century, he lost concentration and chipped the easiest of catches to cover off Siya Mahima, the softest of dismissals.

Having got himself in, it was incumbent on the young left-hander to bat through as much of the innings as possible.

His dismissal in the 28th over, however, left the vulnerable lower-middle order ripe for the plucking.

Von Berg (1-29 in 10 overs), the ever-dangerous Mahima (2-27 in 10), Aviwe Mgijima (3-26 off seven) and Manack (with career-best figures of 4-24 in 9.4) simply had too much guile and skill for the remainder of the Dolphins’ batters with the exception of the experienced Khaya Zondo (39 off 67 balls) who steered the innings through to the final over.

GOLDRUSH BOLAND: Pieter Malan, Grant Roelofsen, Gavin Kaplan, Aviwe Mgijima, Clyde Fortuin (capt/wk), Siyabonga Mahima, Shaun von Berg, Keith Dudgeon, Ayabulela Gqamane, Imran Manack, Glenton Stuurman

HOLLYWOODBETS DOLPHINS: Sarel Erwee, Jon-Jon Smuts, Romashan Pillay, Bryce Parsons, Khaya Zondo, Tshepang Dithole (wk), Eathan Bosch, Andile Simelane, Prenelan Subrayen (capt), Okuhle Cele, Hanu Viljoen

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