World Of T20 Cricket

On a pitch that offered bounce and some movement, Stuart Clark led a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Somerset to a below-par 111 which New South Wales knocked off without breaking a sweat in Hyderabad. With this crushing win NSW have joined their Australian counterparts Victoria in the Champions League semi-finals.

It was a must-win game for NSW and they came to the party in style. Brett Lee bowled with fire, Clark was as canny as ever and David Warner unleashed hell as NSW sealed the chase in 11.5 overs. Warner got them off to an explosive start, carting boundaries all around the ground. There were couple of cut shots that stood out for his dexterity in finding the gap in a packed off-side field but the highlight was a six off Omari Banks, the offspinner. Warner backed away a touch and was actually beaten in flight but lunged out to chip it all the way over the extra-cover boundary. While the batsmen indulged themselves, the win was set up by some fine bowling from Clark and Lee.

Clark was steady as ever with his back-of-a-length deliveries, getting them to cut either way. He was introduced into the attack in the fifth over and swung into action immediately with a double strike. He induced Craig Kieswetter into holing out to mid-on and had Justin Langer swinging without control to deep midwicket.

In the next over, Clark got one to kick up from short of a length and had James Hildreth top-edging an attempted pull to fine leg. Arul Suppiah was run out in the same over and Somerset slipped from 24 for 0 to 39 for 4, a position from which they never recovered. Clark could have had another wicket but he dropped Zander de Bruyn off his bowling.

It might have been Clark who did the major damage, but the platform was laid by a hostile spell from Lee, who didn’t shy from using short deliveries and troubled both the openers. He got away swing and bounce as he went hard at them. Doug Bollinger gave away a few fours but Lee yielded just four runs from the first two overs. The pressure eventually told on the openers who tried to break free against Clark and threw their wickets away. Lee returned in the end overs to pick up a wicket and kept a lid on the scoring.

This tournament is the farewell song of Langer, who is retiring from competitive cricket after this game, but nothing has gone right for him. The reflexes seems to have slowed down and today, he was beaten for pace on quite a few occasions. However, there was one little moment that reminded you of the past: Bollinger had served him a short delivery on the free hit and Langer swiveled to unfurl a crunchy pull to the midwicket boundary.

But there was little else to celebrate for Langer and his men as the ruthless NSW machine rolled along without any trouble.

Somerset innings (20 overs maximum)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	C Kieswetter†	c Katich b Clark	13	19	2	0	68.42
	4.2 and he goes attempting a big shot! Again Kieswetter hurries out of his crease and takes on a shortish ball not there for the heave, top-edging high up to Katich at mid-on 24/1
	JL Langer*	c Hauritz b Clark	5	11	1	0	45.45
	4.4 and the other opener goes! Now its Langer’s turn to step out and chip a ball off his stumps over the infield and straight to Hauritz on the ropes at deep midwicket 24/2
	AV Suppiah	run out (Warner)	8	8	1	0	100.00
	6.6 from Clark, oh this is sloppy! Suppiah pushes the ball down toward mid-on and sets off for a suicidal single as Warner collects and throws down the stumps with the bat short 39/4
	JC Hildreth	c Bollinger b Clark	6	6	1	0	100.00
	6.5 and another one goes down to a loose shot! This time it is Hildreth who swivels to try and pull a short of length ball but picks out deep fine leg instead for an easy catch 39/3
	PD Trego	c Hughes b Hauritz	3	7	0	0	42.85
	9.1 and he gets one first ball! Trego doesn’t even wait to see what Hauritz is going to bowl, trying to dominate first ball with a pull to one dropped in somewhat short but instead finding Hughes just in front of the deep midwicket ropes 44/5
	Z de Bruyn	b Henriques	23	32	2	0	71.87
	17.1 straight through! No room on that one, full and straight, beats the bat as de Bruyn makes room to biff it away and middle and off stumps are pegged back 85/7
	OAC Banks	b Lee	15	18	1	0	83.33
	16.2 chopped on! Banks goes for an ambitious and cramped pull to one not short enough outside off and cutting in, and drags it back onto the top of his stumps 81/6
	WJ Durston	not out	20	13	2	1	153.84
	JC Buttler	not out	6	8	0	0	75.00
	Extras	(lb 4, w 6, nb 2)	12
	Total	(7 wickets; 20 overs)	111	(5.55 runs per over)

Did not bat AC Thomas, CM Willoughby

Fall of wickets1-24 (Kieswetter, 4.2 ov), 2-24 (Langer, 4.4 ov), 3-39 (Hildreth, 6.5 ov), 4-39 (Suppiah, 6.6 ov), 5-44 (Trego, 9.1 ov), 6-81 (Banks, 16.2 ov), 7-85 (de Bruyn, 17.1 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	B Lee	4	0	15	1	3.75	(2w)
	16.2 to Banks, chopped on! Banks goes for an ambitious and cramped pull to one not short enough outside off and cutting in, and drags it back onto the top of his stumps 81/6
	DE Bollinger	4	0	33	0	8.25	(2nb, 4w)
	SR Clark	4	0	15	3	3.75
	4.2 to Kieswetter, and he goes attempting a big shot! Again Kieswetter hurries out of his crease and takes on a shortish ball not there for the heave, top-edging high up to Katich at mid-on 24/1 4.4 to Langer, and the other opener goes! Now its Langer’s turn to step out and chip a ball off his stumps over the infield and straight to Hauritz on the ropes at deep midwicket 24/2 6.5 to Hildreth, and another one goes down to a loose shot! This time it is Hildreth who swivels to try and pull a short of length ball but picks out deep fine leg instead for an easy catch 39/3
	MC Henriques	3	0	20	1	6.66
	17.1 to de Bruyn, straight through! No room on that one, full and straight, beats the bat as de Bruyn makes room to biff it away and middle and off stumps are pegged back 85/7
	NM Hauritz	3	0	14	1	4.66
	9.1 to Trego, and he gets one first ball! Trego doesn’t even wait to see what Hauritz is going to bowl, trying to dominate first ball with a pull to one dropped in somewhat short but instead finding Hughes just in front of the deep midwicket ropes 44/5
	SPD Smith	2	0	10	0	5.00

	New South Wales innings (target: 112 runs from 20 overs)		R	B	4s	6s	SR
	DA Warner	c Buttler b Banks	40	16	6	2	250.00
	4.4 super catch! Warner gets underneath this one and goes through with the shot, lofting it down the ground but Buttler runs across from wide long-off and takes a running catch by cupping the ball low, doesn’t pull in a dive but holds it very well 56/1
	PJ Hughes	c Durston b de Bruyn	18	22	3	0	81.81
	8.1 and he gets Hughes first ball, getting into a mess while trying to pull a shortish ball, gets under it and high off the bat for an easy catch to deep midwicket 78/2
	DLR Smith†	c Suppiah b de Bruyn	20	12	4	0	166.66
	8.2 well held, Suppiah! de Bruyn gets two in two, surprising Smith with a short ball, he hops back and fends, the ball splices up off the shoulder of the bat in the air in front of point where Suppiah dives forward and cups a good catch 78/3
	SM Katich*	not out	18	11	4	0	163.63
	MC Henriques	c †Kieswetter b Willoughby	8	5	2	0	160.00
	9.3 good running catch from Kieswetter, second match in a row! Henriques wants to finish it off in a hurry but top-edges a short ball to the leg side behind square, Kieswetter watches it all the way and pouches it 88/4
	SPD Smith	not out	5	6	0	0	83.33
	Extras	(lb 1, w 1, nb 1)	3
	Total	(4 wickets; 11.5 overs)	112	(9.46 runs per over)

Did not bat BJ Rohrer, B Lee, NM Hauritz, SR Clark, DE Bollinger

Fall of wickets1-56 (Warner, 4.4 ov), 2-78 (Hughes, 8.1 ov), 3-78 (DLR Smith, 8.2 ov), 4-88 (Henriques, 9.3 ov)

	Bowling	O	M	R	W	Econ
	CM Willoughby	3	0	30	1	10.00	(1w)
	9.3 to Henriques, good running catch from Kieswetter, second match in a row! Henriques wants to finish it off in a hurry but top-edges a short ball to the leg side behind square, Kieswetter watches it all the way and pouches it 88/4
	AC Thomas	3.5	1	19	0	4.95
	OAC Banks	2	0	28	1	14.00
	4.4 to Warner, super catch! Warner gets underneath this one and goes through with the shot, lofting it down the ground but Buttler runs across from wide long-off and takes a running catch by cupping the ball low, doesn’t pull in a dive but holds it very well 56/1
	PD Trego	1	0	15	0	15.00
	Z de Bruyn	2	0	19	2	9.50	(1nb)
	8.1 to Hughes, and he gets Hughes first ball, getting into a mess while trying to pull a shortish ball, gets under it and high off the bat for an easy catch to deep midwicket 78/2 8.2 to DLR Smith, well held, Suppiah! de Bruyn gets two in two, surprising Smith with a short ball, he hops back and fends, the ball splices up off the shoulder of the bat in the air in front of point where Suppiah dives forward and cups a good catch 78/3

Match details

Toss New South Wales, who chose to field Points New South Wales 2, Somerset 0

Twenty20 debut JC Buttler (Somerset) Player of the match SR Clark (New South Wales)

Umpires DJ Harper (Australia) and RE Koertzen (South Africa) TV umpire AM Saheba Match referee S Venkataraghavan Reserve umpire S Ravi

Match notes

Somerset innings Somerset: 50 runs in 11.1 overs (73 balls), Extras 7 Somerset: 100 runs in 18.5 overs (120 balls), Extras 11 Innings Break: Somerset – 111/7 in 20.0 overs (WJ Durston 20, JC Buttler 6) New South Wales innings New South Wales: 50 runs in 4.2 overs (26 balls), Extras 0 1st Wicket: 50 runs in 26 balls (DA Warner 36, PJ Hughes 16, Ex 0) New South Wales: 100 runs in 10.3 overs (65 balls), Extras 2

written by Swapnil \\ tags: Champions League, CLT20, New South Wales, Somerset