Keshav Maharaj trumps Mahami's hat-trick as Dolphins win T20 opener

DURBAN: A career-best four for 15 by Keshav Maharaj upstaged Siyabonga Mahima's debut hat-trick as the Hollywoodbets Dolphins made a strong start to their Betway T20 Challenge campaign with a 14-run win over the Six Gun Grill Cape Cobras here on Friday.

There was also a vital ninth career half-century from Khaya Zondo that set the hosts up for a total of 155 for eight after they won the toss and opted to bat first at Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Stadium.

The right-hander was in explosive form, plundering 59 off 39 balls (6 fours, 2 sixes), but was the second of rookie leg-break bowler Mahami's hat-trick victims - the 24-year-old finishing with the dreamy figures of four for 18 in three overs.

But he was then upstaged by Proteas slow left-armer Maharaj, who beat his previous best figures of three for seven that he claimed playing for KwaZulu-Natal against Namibia at Chatsworth in 2012/13, as the Cobras faded away to end on 141 for seven. That handed Imraan Khan's side a positive start to the campaign, which is being hosted in a bio-secure environment in the coastal city. The match also concluded the day one programme, which was a double-header that began with the Momentum Multiply Titans thumping the VKB Knights by six wickets earlier in the day. IANS

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