A dissapointing four days of Sunfoil Series cricket came to its conclusion yesterday morning as the Warriors fell to an innings and 54-run defeat at the hands of the Sunfoil Dolphins at Buffalo Park.
After capitulating to 209 all out in their first innings, in pursuit of the Dolphins’ first innings total of 450/8 declared, the Warriors were then forced to follow on, and were in serious danger of not even making it through to the fourth day of play as they crashed to 41/5 before tea on Saturday afternoon.
However, a lower-order fightback, led by Border star Jerry Nqolo, and a few dropped catches from the Dolphins saw the Warriors reach 137/7 at stumps, before they then returned yesterday morning and batted for a further two hours, reaching 187 all out about an hour before lunch.
“Coming into this game our main focus was to really bat well in the first innings, which we haven’t done this whole season, and in this game we didn’t bat well in the first or second innings,” said Warriors coach Malibongwe Maketa.
“To get the first innings runs sets you up well for the rest of the game, and we could not do this.
“We definitely wanted to bat first in this match, but that is no excuse not to get the runs batting second, as the pitch was flat throughout and our senior players let us down.”
The Warriors’ poor batting effort was highlighted by just four batsmen scoring more than 20 runs over the two innings.
Yaseen Vallie, with 86 not out in the first innings, ran out of partners, which robbed him of the chance to score what would have been a well-deserved century.
The Dolphins’ Daryn Dupavillon, with 5/49, and Craig Alexander (4/45) were the destroyers-in-chief as they tore through the Warriors’ line-up with ruthless efficiency.
In the second innings it was Nqolo who was the lone batsman to put up a fight, as he played very well to score his highest franchise score for the Warriors of 64.
Nqolo also bowled well to pick up 2/58 in 20 overs in the Dolphins innings, and despite his team’s loss, he will be happy with his personal contribution.
Dupavillon again started well in the second innings, accounting for the first two wickets of Michael Price (13) and Colin Ackermann (12), but from there Andile Phehlukwayo was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 4/39, including the final wicket of Thandolwethu Mnyaka for 16.
Other than Vallie and Nqolo the only other Warriors batsmen to score anything of note were Simon Harmer with 25 in the second innings, and Basheeru-Deen Walters, who hammered an entertaining 14-ball 29, with four fours and a six, when he came in at number 11 in the first innings, and managed a more sedate unbeaten 13-ball 14 with one four and one six in the second.
It was not a good four days of cricket for the Warriors, and with this being their final match at Buffalo Park this season, it was an unfortunate way to end off there.
They are still hunting a win in the competition and remain rooted to the foot of the Sunfoil Series table. With just four matches left they will be eager to win as many as they can.
“The focus now is to go out there and win our last four games because we don’t want to finish at the bottom of the log,” said Maketa.
“People want to see us go out there and win games, whether it is the last game of the season or second-last it doesn’t matter; we still need to go out there and perform, which we will look to do over the coming weeks.”
The Warriors next play the Cobras in Paarl, starting on Thursday.
Warriors' loss to Dolphins leaves them at foot of the table
After capitulating to 209 all out in their first innings, in pursuit of the Dolphins’ first innings total of 450/8 declared, the Warriors were then forced to follow on, and were in serious danger of not even making it through to the fourth day of play as they crashed to 41/5 before tea on Saturday afternoon.
However, a lower-order fightback, led by Border star Jerry Nqolo, and a few dropped catches from the Dolphins saw the Warriors reach 137/7 at stumps, before they then returned yesterday morning and batted for a further two hours, reaching 187 all out about an hour before lunch.
“Coming into this game our main focus was to really bat well in the first innings, which we haven’t done this whole season, and in this game we didn’t bat well in the first or second innings,” said Warriors coach Malibongwe Maketa.
“To get the first innings runs sets you up well for the rest of the game, and we could not do this.
“We definitely wanted to bat first in this match, but that is no excuse not to get the runs batting second, as the pitch was flat throughout and our senior players let us down.”
The Warriors’ poor batting effort was highlighted by just four batsmen scoring more than 20 runs over the two innings.
Yaseen Vallie, with 86 not out in the first innings, ran out of partners, which robbed him of the chance to score what would have been a well-deserved century.
The Dolphins’ Daryn Dupavillon, with 5/49, and Craig Alexander (4/45) were the destroyers-in-chief as they tore through the Warriors’ line-up with ruthless efficiency.
In the second innings it was Nqolo who was the lone batsman to put up a fight, as he played very well to score his highest franchise score for the Warriors of 64.
Nqolo also bowled well to pick up 2/58 in 20 overs in the Dolphins innings, and despite his team’s loss, he will be happy with his personal contribution.
Dupavillon again started well in the second innings, accounting for the first two wickets of Michael Price (13) and Colin Ackermann (12), but from there Andile Phehlukwayo was the pick of the bowlers as he picked up 4/39, including the final wicket of Thandolwethu Mnyaka for 16.
Other than Vallie and Nqolo the only other Warriors batsmen to score anything of note were Simon Harmer with 25 in the second innings, and Basheeru-Deen Walters, who hammered an entertaining 14-ball 29, with four fours and a six, when he came in at number 11 in the first innings, and managed a more sedate unbeaten 13-ball 14 with one four and one six in the second.
It was not a good four days of cricket for the Warriors, and with this being their final match at Buffalo Park this season, it was an unfortunate way to end off there.
They are still hunting a win in the competition and remain rooted to the foot of the Sunfoil Series table. With just four matches left they will be eager to win as many as they can.
“The focus now is to go out there and win our last four games because we don’t want to finish at the bottom of the log,” said Maketa.
“People want to see us go out there and win games, whether it is the last game of the season or second-last it doesn’t matter; we still need to go out there and perform, which we will look to do over the coming weeks.”
The Warriors next play the Cobras in Paarl, starting on Thursday.
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