The Diamond Eagles beat the Nashua Dolphins by 13 runs in their Standard Bank Pro20 match at the Sahara Stadium Kingsmead in Durban on Wednesday night.

Three wickets in four balls by Dillon du Preez in the 18^th over turned the game on its head when he dismissed Johann Louw (2), Daryn Smit (4) and Andrew Hall (0) to take the Dolphins from 122 for six to 126 for eight. At that stage, the Dolphins were still in the game but the burst of wickets by du Preez put an end to any thoughts of a Dolphins victory.

The Dolphins opening pair of Imraan Khan and Loots Bosman got their team off to a flyer when they made 69 off 50 balls to put their team in a strong position. Bosman was then caught by Rillee Rossouw off Aubrey Swanepoel for 38 (21 balls, 4x4’s, and 2x6’s). In a moment of madness, Khan then ran himself out off the very next ball for 30 to leave the Dolphins on 69 for two. Ahmed Amla, batting at number four was the only other batsman to offer any resistance while wickets kept tumbling at the other end.

Benkenstein (2), David Miller (8) and Pierre de Bruyn (1) then fell cheaply. Amla finally succumbed in the last over with the Dolphins needing 18 to win. He was caught on the long off boundary by Rossouw for 43 (35 balls, 5x4’s) off van der Wath. Friend was then dismissed off the next ball to give van der Wath two wickets in two balls.

Du Preez finished with three for 24 while van der Wath bagged three for 27.

Earlier, the Diamond Eagles posted 152 for nine after winning the toss and electing to bat. Opener Morne van Wyk kept the innings together as he plundered 62 from 43 balls (7x4’s, 1x6) while wickets fell at regular intervals from the other end.

Reza Hendricks was the first wicket to fall when he was bowled by Louw for nine, to leave the Eagles on 19 for one.  Rossouw fell two overs later when he was caught by Friend off Alfonso Thomas for six with the Eagles on 42.

Ryan Bailey then pulled a Thomas short delivery straight to Amla on the mid-wicket boundary for seven to leave the Eagles on 58 for three.  Boeta Dippenaar then added 49 runs for the fourth wicket with van Wyk before being caught by Andrew Hall off Daryn Smit for 30.

Adrian McLaren was then caught by Smit off Friend for two.  Van Wyk’s innings ended in the 16^th over when he was caught by Louw who dropped him when he had 55. He faced 43 balls (7x4’s, 1x6) to give Hall his only wicket of the innings. At that stage, the Eagles had reached 119 for six. They lost the wickets of du Preez for five, van der Wath for six and Aubrey Swanepoel for 12 while Jandre Coetzee was unbeaten on nine.

Louw was the pick of the bowlers for the Dolphins with figures of three for 27 from his four overs.

The master blaster awards went to du Preez and van Wyk.

The Dolphins are now sixth on the log with two points and two games remaining. Their next game is against the Cobras in Cape-Town on February 13.