Positive on Dolphins’ heartache
THE Gold Coast Dolphins have vowed to heed the lessons of their Katherine Raymont Shield heartbreak after their dreams of a title double were ripped away by Wests.
Seven days after dominating the Bulldogs in the early stages of a one-day grand final that was ultimately washed out, the Dolphins were yesterday unable to replicate their form at Graceville as Wests hung on for a 20-run win.
Sent in to bat, the hosts posted 8-239 from their 50 overs as star trio Josie Dooley (67), Kirby Short (50) and Courtney Sippel (44) made use of the short boundaries.
The early-innings fireworks that had become a trademark of the Dolphins’ batting then eluded the visitors as they slipped to 6-118 when star batter Georgia Redmayne fell for 67.
But as they have done throughout a campaign that delivered the Twenty20 crown in January, the young side battled bravely on the back of Tara Wheeler’s 37.
Caitlin Woods (23 not out) and Hiruni Don (19) then put on 41 for the last wicket to send a scare through the Wests ranks, with the latter falling on the last ball of the 49th over with the score at 219.
While it was a total that was more than competitive, it was not the 5-253 they had amassed from 45.3 overs the previous weekend.
“Am I disappointed? No, I’m not. I’m disappointed for the girls but I’m not disappointed in them,” coach Garry Lovett said. “I felt it was going to be really tough to get the girls up for this one. We played our grand final last week.
“We bowled OK, fielded pretty good. To our guys’ credit, I thought we were going to be chasing 280, 290, so to pull them back and get them to 239 was a great effort.
“The bottom six (with the bat) played a role that we haven’t had a chance for them to play because the top order has normally got the job done. We just couldn’t quite get partnerships in crucial stages where we needed them.
“The girls will take plenty out of today, a lot of good. We probably didn’t have a right to get as close as we did but we gave them a scare.
“A win would’ve been nice but I’m happy, the girls are happy and the club is happy.”
Lovett, whose side was missing Southern Stars allrounder Delissa Kimmince due to an ongoing knee complaint, said the playing group would return bigger and better in 2019-20.
“We had a real good chat after the game, it’s a great bunch of girls,” he said.
“(The success) has been building for the last couple of years. Our second grade finished third last year and that gave us the building block to do well in first grade.
“We’ll walk away with one from two (in grand finals) and get them up for next year and make it two from two. We’re going to be better for this year.”
I FELT IT WAS GOING TO BE REALLY TOUGH TO GET THE GIRLS UP FOR THIS ONE. WE PLAYED OUR GRAND FINAL LAST WEEK DOLPHINS COACH GARRY LOVETT