Behind the game but Dolphins still hoping

A STRONG finish to the Queensland Premier Cricket season can help Gold Coast distance themselves from the unenviable cellar dwellers tag, according to batsman Jack Hargreaves.

The Dolphins will resume their two-day match against Sunshine Coast at Elizabeth Daniels Park today, leading by 196 runs and with nine wickets to take.

Hargreaves believes the hosts are slightly ahead of the game due to a below-par Gold Coast total but some morning wickets could swing the momentum drastically.

“We’re still pretty confident,” he said.

“There’s a fair bit of weather around too so that could maybe spice it up.

“We have got to be very clinical – take catches, take half-chances and put the ball in the right spot and hopefully they can nick off or miss a straight one.”

While Sunshine Coast ace Alecz Day is already back in the sheds, his opening partner Nick Selman – who in winters plays county cricket for Glamorgan – is at the crease on 20.

Gold Coast remain in the hunt for a two-day finals berth; despite sitting eighth, they are just 12 points behind fourthplaced Valleys. Regardless of whether or not they reach the play-offs, however, Hargreaves said there had been a big step forward by the side.

“Definitely it hasn’t felt like other seasons,” he said.

“We’re in a similar position on the ladder but a few of us boys were talking and we feel like we have competed a lot better this year. We have put up a bit more of a fight, we’ve scored some good runs – we’re just not sitting in that pretty ladder position.

“I think the ladder doesn’t depict how our season has gone but still it’s where we sit. We would like to at least win tomorrow and get another win.” Josh Kann took the Dolphins’ sole wicket last week.