Maharaj the toast as Dolphins thump Warriors

Keshav Maharaj returned the third-best figure in franchise cricket history as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins wrapped up victory by an innings and 70 runs early on the final morning of their opening Sunfoil Series clash of the season against the Warriors in East London on Saturday.

The slow left-armer had already taken 12 wickets on day three to put the visitors within touching distance of a fine at Buffalo Park.

His exploits on Friday, which saw him take 12 wickets to fall, had left the Dolphins just three strikes away from victory and they needed only 11.5 overs to do it.

Maharaj took just one of those, but still managed to end with remarkable figures of 13/157 in 58.2 overs, putting him behind Kagiso Rabada’s 14/105 and Dale Steyn 14/110 on the South African franchise cricket history list.

But they were the best ever figures for the Dolphins, beating the 12/96 taken by Kyle Abbott back in 2012/13.

The Warriors had resumed the final day on 132/7, but Andrew Birch (16) was out fifth ball of the morning to Craig Alexander, who took the other two wickets on the last day for figures of 2/43.

Clyde Fortuin (36), the joint top-scorer of the innings, helped take the hosts past 150, before he too fell to Alexander.

Maharaj then fittingly bowled Basheer Walters (7) for second-innings figures of 6/68 as the home side were all out for 178.

The result gave the Dolphins 17.14 points, with the Warriors taking just 4.6.