A bigger picture for Dolphins

TODAY, the Dolphins have that rare thing in competitive cricket; a match that matters, but doesn’t actually matter.

They are in Pretoria to face the table-topping Titans in the last round of the OneDay Cup, but Grant Morgan and his men know that they have already qualified for the semi-finals of the competition, too.

Thus, they have a free hit, though they will take it a lot more seriously than that.

After all, the last time they faced the Titans away they were humbled, so they will want to set the record straight in that sense.

“It’s a unique position to be in, but there is a bigger picture,” Morgan chortled after a sweaty session in Pretoria with his team.

“We know that we have already done enough, but we don’t want to be limping into the semi-finals.”

The Dolphins have already had their dip in the competition, when they wilted to consecutive losses at home to the Warriors and then the Titans. It was out of character from a white-ball campaign that they have taken a lot of positives from.

“We have gone from being fifth last season, to being in a position where we can’t finish worse than third. We have played really well for most of the season, which is why I was so concerned after those games at home,” Morgan reflected.

Happily, the Durbanites got back to winning ways on Wednesday, as they dispatched of a troubled Highveld Lions team at Kingsmead. Morgan said the intensity returning to his side was encouraging, ahead of a big week for them.

“We dipped a bit, and I didn’t want to create the impression that we had allowed the guys to take the foot off the pedal,” Morgan said.

“I gave them a few days off because they had played two hard games in a few days, but we took a while to get going again.”

Going is what they are doing now, however, and they will certainly make a go of it against the Titans.

“It’s good for us that we are getting into these crunch games, semis and finals. It shows that we are headed in the right direction, and we want to take momentum into the final week. We may well have to play the Titans in the final if we get there, so whatever we can do now against them will be handy for us,” he added with relish.