Gold Coast Dolphins captain Max Houlahan says side is headed in right direction, despite Souths loss

GOLD Coast captain Max Houlahan says the Dolphins are headed in the right direction, despite missing a golden opportunity to open their Queensland Premier Cricket account on Saturday.

GOLD Coast captain Max Houlahan says the Dolphins are headed in the right direction, despite missing a golden opportunity to open their Queensland Premier Cricket account on Saturday.

Having fallen to Wests on the opening day of the season before their Round 2 clash with Sandgate-Redcliffe was washed out, the Dolphins travelled to South Brisbane at the weekend needing a win to book a quarterfinal spot.

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Dolphins quick Josh Kann. Picture: Glenn Hampson

They appeared on track when Josh Kann (2-30) and Matt Kuhnemann (3-41) combined to have the hosts struggling at 5-82, but a century from Aryan Jain (112 not out) lifted Souths to 6-231 from their 50 overs.

The efforts of Jack Hargreaves (92), Houlahan (34) and Liam Hope-Shackley (19) then had the Coast cruising at 2-112, but the latter’s dismissal sparked a downward spiral that ended at 214-all out in the 47th over.

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“I think there was a lot of positives to take out of it,” Houlahan, who has been handed the captaincy reins at the age of 21, said.

“We could’ve probably bowled a little bit better towards the end and fielded better but all in all, it was a very much improved effort. With the bat we were cruising and looked like we were going to win pretty easily (but) spin was our downfall through the middle and we lost a clump of about four wickets.

Jack Hargreaves topscored with 92 against Souths.

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“At training everyone has been putting in the hard yards and everyone backs each other when we get out there. There’s no excuses and it was definitely a much improved effort and we can only build on that.”

The Dolphins open their two-day campaign away to Valleys this Saturday.

The club’s second grade side (6-272) is through to the quarterfinals after easily accounting for Souths (all out 205).