Durban -The Hollywoodbets Dolphins lost their high-scoring, rain-shortened CSA One Day Cup clash against the ITEK Knights at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium on Sunday in a match that saw 311 runs scored and nineteen wickets fall in 42 overs of high-octane cricket.

The Knights won the toss and elected to bat first, once play got under way after the rain delay, with the match reduced to 22 overs per side.

Seamer Daryn du Pavillon made the breakthrough in his third over when he had opener Gerrit Snyman caught by Brad Porteous for 15.

With the visitors gathering momentum Prenelan Subrayen sent the free-scoring Gihahn Cloete back to the change room in the ninth over with the Knights reaching 68/2.

Wickets fell at regular intervals as Andile Phehlukwayo grabbed 4/35 in is five overs and Ottniel Baartman ran through the visitor’s lower middle order taking 3/37 as the Knights closed on 175/9, thanks largely to a cavalier unbeaten 66 off just 43 deliveries from Raynard van Tonder.

Facing an asking rate of eight runs per over, the Dolphins started solidly, with Jon Jon Smuts and Marques Ackerman taking them to 45 after four overs before Ackerman fell to Patrick Kruger.

Smuts played with his trademark flair until he was bowled by Aubrey Swanepoel for 38 off just 28 balls as the Dolphins lost four wickets in the first ten overs to find themselves poised at 62/4, needing more than a hundred runs off the final twelve overs.

Andile Phehlukwayo and Ruan de Swart set about that task, keeping the Dolphins in the hunt, but both fell after getting starts, leaving the Dolphins at 98/7, and facing an asking run rate that had crept up to over ten runs per over.

Prenelan Subrayen and Tshepang Ditole made a fist of that challenge, adding 33 quick runs for the eighth wicket, as the Free Staters kept the home side under pressure, taking wickets at regular intervals.

The Dolphins last wicket fell at 136, leaving them thirty nine runs short of their target.

SUMMARY OF SCORE:
ITEK Knights 175/9 (R Van Tonder 66*, A Phehlukwayo 4/35 O Baartman 3/37)
Hollywoodbets Dolphins 136/10 (J J Smuts 38, P Kruger 4/25)
ITEK Knights won by 39 runs

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