The Dolphins have stunned five of their senior players by releasing them from their contracts with immediate effect.

The Dolphins stunned five of their senior players as they look towards the future.

Seam bowler Johann Louw, one of the franchise's key performers in recent seasons, is joined by Pierre de Bruyn as well as former South Africa trio HD Ackerman, Andrew Hall and Alfonso Thomas, all of whom have been shown the exit door.

The contracts of the five players were all due to expire at the end of the current season.

Announcing the news, KwaZulu-Natal Cricket Union CEO Jesse Chellan explained that the decision was due to a new policy of focusing efforts on developing young players from within the province.

"In reviewing the performance of the Dolphins this season, it is clear that significant shortcomings exist in key areas of the team, especially our bowling department," he said.

"There is also a feeling that many of our senior bowlers have fallen behind the other franchises and hence there is a need for renewal and refreshing.

"As a consequence, a policy decision has been taken to blood the next group of young players from within our ranks for the rest of this season."

The Dolphins have had endured a difficult season so far, currently sitting one place from the bottom of the first-class Supersport Series standings, while their Twenty20 campaign has all but stalled after their failure to win any of their opening four games.

They did, however, manage to reach the limited overs MTN40 final, but coach Graham Ford believes the drastic move nevertheless needed to be made sooner rather than later.

He said: "Dolphins cricket has just about hit rock bottom. If we don't start this process now we are doomed forever.

"We have to rebuild. It will not be easy but hopefully we can find players who are loyal and committed to Dolphins cricket.

"We will be working on skills, conditioning and the general toughening up of the players. The training will probably be tougher than anything they have experienced before."