Natal coach Ian Tayfield admitted Thursday night that their narrow Standard Bank Cup playoff win over Easterns the previous day was fortunate given how badly Natal had batted.

There is no doubt that if they are to upset Gauteng in Friday night's quarter-final then Natal's much-vaunted top-order batsmen are going to have to come to the party and lay a match-winning foundation.

A major improvement on their embarrasing efforts against the mediocre Easterns bowling will be necessary against Andrew Hall, Justin Engelke, Grant Elliott, Clive Eksteen, Derek Crookes and Zander de Bruyn - not the weakest attack.

While agreeing that the Natal top-order showed a lack of urgency, Tayfield said there were mitigating circumstances. ``I would hesitate to criticise them too much, because the pitch was very slow and they found it very difficult to bat on. But they did play it badly, their shot selection was poor and Wade Wingfield and Robbie Macqueen showed them how it should have been done.''

Tayfield said the team management would sleep on the decision whether to call on Keith Forde to open the batting tonight. His dismissal in the second over against Easterns once again put pressure upon Andrew Hudson and Doug Watson, but the possible benefits if Forde manages to get the innings off to a flyer are immense.

Either way, one feels Errol Stewart's team will need to produce something unexpected if they are to upset a Gauteng outfit which former New Zealand captain Ken Rutherford has drilled into a potent limited-overs combination that finished second in the Standard Bank League.

When one considers that Natal were hammered by six wickets with three overs to spare in the corresponding League game at Kingsmead in January, then the size of their task becomes apparent.

Fortunately, the players are desperate to salvage something from a shocking season, even though their performance against Easterns did not always indicate this, and the fighting qualities they showed in the field on Wednesday night will have provided further motivation for Friday night's clash.

Natal have individual match-winners, but Gauteng have the all-round class, making them favourites even though captain Stewart believes the Dolphins have a 50/50 chance of winning.

Squads

Gauteng: André Seymore, Adam Bacher, Ken Rutherford (capt), Dean Laing, Nic Pothas, Andrew Hall, Derek Crookes, Clive Eksteen, Zander de Bruyn, Grant Elliott, Justin Engelke, Walter Masemula.

Natal: Andrew Hudson, Keith Forde, Doug Watson, Mark Bruyns, Errol Stewart (capt), Wade Wingfield, Kyle Bender, Robbie Macqueen, Keith Storey, Gary Gilder, Jannie Dreyer, Jon Kent, Grant Rowley.