Exclusive: Quinton Friend Targets Four-Day Series Glory After Dolphins Fairytale Cup Win

After winning the CSA One Day Cup on Sunday, Dolphins coach, Quinton Friend, wants his team to push for the Four-Day Series trophy to make it two trophies in a single season. 

The Dolphins' fairytale One Day Cup Story

The Dolphins' storyline in the Cricket South Africa One Day Cup is something one would expect only from a Disney movie.

Having been placed on the bottom of the log three games into the One Day Cup competition, somehow the Dolphins managed to fight their way to the final and won it, beating Boland in their own backyard on Sunday.

The Durban-based unit might have found themselves with a home semi-final on the back of CSA's controversial decision to dock points from the Warriors, but they still had to get past the Titans and boy did they do an exceptional job in beating such a strong side.

From there, Dolphins coach Quinton Friend took his troops to Paarl for the final where they got over the line, winning by four wickets in the last over of the match.

"It was tense. It was nerve-wracking in all accounts. I'm just extremely chuffed with the way that the guys handled themselves during the course of this One Day cup," Friend told SportsBoom.co.za. 

Having won the One Day Cup, the Dolphins have taken themselves out of the relegation hole after being threatened by relegation all season long.

That feat alone is not enough for Friend as the 43-year-old is eyeing a second trophy of the season with the Four-Day Series set to resume on Thursday. 

"We've turned it (season) around and we've probably put ourselves in a position where we can't get relegated now. That's a massive plus and a big relief for everybody," said Friend.

"I didn't really want to bring it up with the players as much but somewhere along the line, in the course of the last two months, that was definitely something that we had to speak about - the importance of what's at stake and what lies ahead for us." 

"The buy-in was there from every single player. They really understood and knew what needed to be done to make sure that we put ourselves in a position where we're not just worrying about relegation, but we're also competing for trophies."

"At the end of the day, that's what we set ourselves out to do before the season started. T20 didn't work out quite as well as we would have liked. To follow that up with a One Day Cup victory within five months of me being on the job, it's probably not something I expected as early as that in my career." 

"I'm just very happy and chuffed for the players. They've put in the hard work. You've got to take your hat off to the players and the way that they stuck at it and fought hard to win this trophy."

Four Day Series Upcoming

The Dolphins have three Four Day Series fixtures remaining and Friend wants his team to push to make the final that is scheduled for April 10th to 14th.

"I don't think the team needs any more motivation, in my honest opinion, based on where we stand and what we've done," Friend told SportsBoom.co.za. 

"I think they'll take a lot of confidence from this one-day cup. Obviously, the turnaround to the first four-day game starting on Thursday is a very quick one." 

"We don't really have time to prepare as well as we probably would have liked. We've got to make sure that we hit the ground running from Thursday, from ball one."

"We've got a chance of winning the double. I don't think there's any bigger motivation than that in wanting to achieve something special. I think it will be extremely special if the team is able to do that."

"At the moment, we're just focusing on Northwest that's coming up on Thursday. We don't want to look too far ahead."