Johannesburg – Daryn Dupavillon delivered a ‘death’ bowling masterclass to turn what looked like certain defeat into a thrilling victory for the Dolphins against the Storm in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Storm had been in control of the match during the a second wicket partnership of 68 for the second wicket between Danie Rossouw (53 off 50 balls) and Grant Thomson (38 off 26 balls). At 97/1 in the 13th over, the Benoni side were seemingly cruising to victory, until Thomson skied a slog sweep to give Bryce Parsons a catch off his own bowling. From then on the Storm scored just 50 runs losing seven wickets, in a dreadful collapse with none of the batsmen showing any composure.
Dupavillon, who has played two One-Day Internationals, was superb even as the Storm gave themselves a chance going into the last three overs thanks to Gionne Koopman, who made 15. But bowling full, with all the boundary fielders on the leg-side, Dupavillon forced the Storm batsmen to hit in just one direction. They couldn’t get the necessary boundaries and on the three occasions when he aimed at the stumps, he clean bowled Koopman, Matthew Arnold and Tumelo Tlhokwe. “We’ve worked really hard on the ‘death’ bowling during the winter, so it was nice to be calm and collected and that I was able to back my skill,” Dupavillon said afterwards.
There was a crucial 17th over from Jason Smith, the former Western Province all-rounder, who made the move to the east coast during the restructure. Although a reluctant bowler, Smith conceded just two runs and claimed the vital wicket of the big hitting Jurie Snyman.
That performance with the ball, followed a critical innings with the bat in which he made 45 off 34 balls, hitting 12 runs in the last over, which given the narrow margin of the Dolphins victory proved instrumental.
The win sees the Dolphins qualify for the play-offs in the T20 Knock Out competition, making Sunday morning’s match against the SA under-19 side a ‘dead rubber.’
The afternoon match between the Storm and the North West Dragons is a winner take all encounter, with the second qualifying spot in the Pool up for grabs.
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IOL Sport