The Dolphins began this season’s Standard Bank Pro20 Series campaign with desire and hope rather than expectations of a semi final place. The Durban-based franchise have struggled in limited over cricket over the last few years and few could have foreseen them progressing past the round robin stage.

After the opening two games, and two losses, including a resounding ten-wicket thumping, at home, to the Eagles, the Dolphins found themselves propping up the table.

And then the Cinderella story began as the Dolphins played some gutsy, do or dies cricket for the remaining 4 round robin games, bring hope closer to the Kingsmead faithful and bringing belief to the players. They won the remaining 4 games to not only get through to the semi finals, but finish 2nd and book a home semi against the Eagles.

The Dolphins gained revenge for that 10 wicket thumping by brushing aside the Eagles to get into the final, and with the Titans beating top of the
table Cobra’s, the Dolphins had a home final to end their season on.

In a closely contested game the Dolphins came up just short, losing the final, and ending the season trophy less. Their was to be no fairytale
ending to the Dolphins season but there were a lot of promise to take with them into next season.

The crowd for the final was near capacity and the biggest Kingsmead had seen for a domestic match for a long time. The festive atmosphere almost
pulled the Dolphins through, but in the end it was the returning Protea players, Steyn and de Villiers that made the difference for the Titans.
The Dolphins will hope that the crowd is able to see the effect they have had on the team and start showing up in numbers next season, were the Dolphins will now have the belief and confidence challenge next year.

The positives for the Dolphins were the new ball attack of Abdullah and Louw, who got early wickets in almost all the games, setting up the innings for the change bowlers and restricting the opponents to gettable totals. The gutsy, brave, batting of new Dolphin Pierre de Bruyn was another highlight, as was the captaining of Ahmed Amla, who is growing in the role and adding runs to his belt, insuring that he is the right man to lead the Dolphins in the future.

For me the best thing to come out of the Dolphins season was the emergence of Darren Smit. Smit is the ultimate all rounder, a keeper/batsman/spin bowler. His keeping has been very tidy and consistent, rewarding him with a place in the South African emerging team’s tour to Australia this year. Below test level, Boucher and AB de Villiers, Smit has rocketed up to the
next best keeper in the country and is one to keep an eye on for the future. His spin bowling, rather than being part time, is an effective weapon that the captain has, combining wicket taking and a degree of economy to the attack. A definite star of the future and a potential Protea in the making.

The Dolphins will be thrilled with their run in this years Standard Bank Pro20 Series and will be eagerly awaiting next season, where they hope to
continue in the same vein. A team with few stars, Hashim Amla is the only Protea, they rely on each other, and play as a team, not a collection of individuals. The future is looking better for the Dolphins.