A devastating opening spell from Dolphins seamer Johann Louw and some ordinary batting from the Highveld Lions setup a comfortable five wicket victory for the Dolphins in their Standard Bank Pro20 series match at the Wanderers on Friday night.

In the end, the Lions' paltry total of 104 at just over five runs to the over proved an easy target for the visitors who got there with 17 balls to spare.

The Dolphins won the toss and elected to bowl and the home side were soon in trouble when Louw's new ball partner Yusuf Abdulla had Lions opener Jean Symes caught behind by wicketkeeper Daryn Smit off the very first ball of the innings.

Louw then took over the cudgels and had the Lions reeling at 26 for five after five overs. His first victim was Alviro Petersen who skied the ball to mid-off and then he clean bowled Dumisa Makalima for a duck.

Blake Snijman soon followed caught by Grant Rowley for eighteen with Louw striking with his very next ball removing Justin Ontong caught behind by Smit. Louw ended with figures of four for 28 in his four over spell.

To add to the Lions' woes, Vaughn van Jaarsveld (11) and Heinrich le Roux (15) were needlessly run out by the ever alert Ahmed Amla. Van Jaarsveld's was the pick of the dismissals with Amla directly hitting the stumps from the gully position.

It was left to tail-enders Garnett Kruger and Friedel de Wet to add some respectability to the Lions scoreboard. Their 37 run partnership in 35 balls was the highest of the home side's innings with Kruger's 19 being the top score and de Wet ending on 15 not out.

The Dolphins never really looked in much trouble and when opener Doug Watson went early for one run, Rowley and Imraan Khan got stuck into the bowling.

Rowley's 46 off 67 balls which included seven boundaries and Khans's 28 (3x4, 1x6) from 39 deliveries provided the platform for Morne van Vuuren (22) and Amla to knock off the winning runs.

Sapa