Jason Smith scored an unbeaten 60 off 41 balls as the KZN Dolphins beat EP’s Warriors by six wickets in their T20 Knock Out quarter-final on Wednesday.

Smith was well supported by Dolphins opener Keegan Petersen, who made 38* off 43 balls as they chased down the Warriors’ below-par total of 127-9.

Diego Rosier top-scored for the Eastern Province team with 51 off 41 balls.

Daryn Dupavillon starred with the ball for the Dolphins, taking a career-best 4-18 in his four overs. That included Warriors openers Wihan Lubbe and Matthew Breetzke for first-ball ducks, as well as No 3 batsman JJ Smuts (7).

“Look, our bowlers obviously set up that victory for us,” said Dolphins captain Marques Ackerman. “The wicket wasn’t easy, it was quite two-paced, but credit needs to go to Keegan Petersen and Jason Smith for those innings under immense pressure in a quarter-final. For them to take us all the way with a 98 run partnership was unreal!”

Tactically, Ackerman believes his side made the right decisions which set them up for the win despite the hiccups with the bat.

“We knew the wicket was quick and they only had three seamers. So when they bowled out early on in the innings we knew we could capitalise on their spinners.

“We lost two wickets too many between overs five and 10 but credit needs to go to the guys who got us over the line.”

The Dolphins will face the Titans in the semi-finals on Thursday (10am).

Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix