Grant Roelofsen, with the bat, and Ottniel Baartman, with the ball, combined brilliantly for the Hollywoodbets Dolphins as they demolished the Dafabet Warriors by 123 runs in their CSA T20 Challenge match at the JB Marks Oval in Potchefstroom on Tuesday afternoon.
It was the perfect bonus-point win for the men from Durban. Desperately needing a win to stay in touch with the teams battling for a semifinal spot, they scored 191 for four with the bat – the biggest total of the competition to date – while Baartman grabbed 5/14 with the ball – including a triple-wicket maiden – as the Warriors crumbled to 68 all out in 13.2 overs.
Baartman’s feat was all the more remarkable as his first, ill-directed over went for 14 runs. Returning to the attack in the 12th over, he had Sinethemba Qeshile caught behind with his second ball, then forced a wobbly Beyers Swanepoel to retire hurt with his third after he took a sharp bouncer on his helmet. Tiaan van Vuuren was clean bowled with his fourth delivery and Glenton Stuurman was trapped leg before with his fifth. The final hat-trick ball of the over narrowly missed Ziyaad Abrahams’s outside edge.
Jon-Jon Smuts then disposed of Abrahams in the next over before Baartman returned to trap (concussion replacement) Rudi Second leg before and bowl Kgaudise Molefe with his final two deliveries to return the amazing figures of 2.2-1-14-5 with his final seven balls reaping a rich harvest of five wickets without conceding a run.
The only two Warriors’ batsmen to reach double figures were the team’s in-form Jordan Hermann (24) and Matthew Breetzke (27*). The two men looked good as they added 53 off 38 balls for the fourth wicket, but the next best collaboration was a mere six runs.
Baartman, now the leading wicket-taker in the competition, was the star bowler, but Eathan Bosch (2/3 in two overs) started the landslide by claiming the early wickets of Lesiba Ngoepe and Diego Rosier first ball, one of four first-ball victims in the innings that altogether contained six ducks.
Skipper Subrayen played his part, with the offspinner taking 2/14 in three overs including a beautifully flighted delivery to entice Hermann out of his ground for Roelofsen to complete the stumping.
Roelofsen, with two catches and a stumping, completed a successful all-round match with his 91 in just 49 balls leading the Dolphins to their total of 191 for four, the highest in the tournament to date.
It was Roelofsen’s highest T20 score, third half-century of the competition and his eighth overall, making him the leading run-scorer.
Subrayen had won the toss and – unusually in this competition – chose to bat first. The reason soon became apparent as the pitch’s colour was brown rather than green, enabling the ball to come onto the bat although there was still some pace and turn in the pitch for the bowlers.
Indeed, the Warriors began well with Stuurman inducing an inside edge from Keegan Petersen that knocked back his off-stump in the second over. Jon-Jon Smuts struggled to get going although he was unlucky to be given out caught behind, while Tshepang Dithole was leg before to Wihan Lubbe for 10.
All the while, however, Roelofsen was striking the ball beautifully, helping his team to the biggest total in the powerplay so far (58). It was the partnership with Khaya Zondo that really hurt the Warriors, notwithstanding the fact that Zondo barely hit the ball off the square for much of his innings. At one stage the diminutive right-hander needed 17 balls for his first six runs.
Roelofsen, however, was unmoved by his partner’s struggles, and when Zondo’s runs finally began to catch up with his balls faced, the partnership truly blossomed. When Roelofsen finally holed out to extra-cover he had struck six fours and five sixes in his innings, dominating the fourth-wicket partnership of 87 in 58 balls to the extent that he scored 59 of them.
Jason Smith then came in and continued Roelofsen’s role, smacking an unbeaten 25 in 12 balls as he and Zondo added a further 40 in 19 balls at the death. Zondo finished with 36 off 34 balls with Swanepoel having the last laugh as he conceded only four runs off the final over finishing with the excellent figures of 1/23 off his four overs.
By contrast paceman Ziyaad Abrahams was thrashed for 57 runs off his four overs.
