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.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Champions League, CLT20, New South Wales, Somerset
The Eagles aren’t going to make many friends in English county cricket. The South African side, who progressed this far after a thrilling win over Sussex, showed excellent control in sealing a five-wicket win in Hyderabad, one that pushed the other county team to the brink of elimination. Morne van Wyk and Ryan Bailey played crucial roles with the bat after CJ de Villiers starred with the ball in the afternoon and the team picked up two points from this win.
The tone was set after Justin Langer opted to bat. de Villiers, who sealed the Eagles’ promotion in the one-over eliminator against Sussex, raced through two wickets in his first over. Somerset slumped to 52 for 5 in nine overs and relied on their club’s record sixth-wicket partnership of 77 charged by Wes Durston, but a target of 133 proved easy for Eagles.
Marcus Trescothick’s sudden return to England forced Craig Kieswetter to open, but he didn’t go much further than two streaky boundaries. In a double-wicket opening over, de Villiers began by trapping Kieswetter right in front and a wide later Arul Suppiah, stuck on the crease, missed the ball and was done in by the angle.
That over brought Zander de Bruyn to the middle with the need to add some solidity to the innings. It was not to be, as he swatted an ugly heave straight to mid-off to gift de Villiers a third, and Thandi Tshabalala spun one past Langer’s bat first ball to add to Somerset’s woes. When Peter Trego was stunningly held by Alan Kruger in his first over, diving to his left to pluck a return catch, Somerset were staring down a tunnel.
Step up Durston. From the get-go he ticked along nicely, just dabbing and deflecting until he clobbered Ryan McLaren for three fours in a row in the 15th over and repeated the feat when de Villiers returned for the 17th, racing past fifty in just 26 balls. The arc between point and third man proved a profitable area for James Hildreth, who slashed and edged with perfection for 33 runs in that region. Apart from one edge, Durston’s shots were crisp and calculated; when the fast bowlers offered room he was keen to steer and run the ball fine. It was a controlled yet rapid innings, and the spark the innings desperately needed.
After bowling the most expensive over of the innings, de Villiers hit back, bowling a maiden in the 19th over – a rarity in Twenty20 format – to finish with 4 for 17, the best figures of the tournament. The last two overs yielded just two leg byes and a single, as the Eagles limited the damage, and that ultimately proved crucial.
Chasing 133 proved easy enough in the end, but Somerset made inroads early. Rilee Roussow, whose splendid half-century was pivotal against Sussex, looked intent on showing his aggressive side but miscued to mid-on off Charl Willoughby, and Adrian McLaren’s poor run was extended when he top-edged to short fine leg. Two ugly dismissals were followed by a soft offering from Boeta Dippenaar, sashaying down to the spin of Max Waller and picking out long-off.
With his captain gone for 18, van Wyk – who at this stage had eased to 29 from 26 – steered the chase and gained useful help from Bailey’s 29. van Wyk, who struck four fours and a six, was particularly strong working the ball to the leg side, but also played some fine checked drives to trouble Somerset. He was shaping to take the Eagles to victory, but top-edged Alfonso Thomas and was well held by a running and diving Kieswetter for 47. Bailey went soon after but victory was achieved with eight balls remaining.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Champions League, CLT20, Eagles, Somerset
A charged-up Trinidad & Tobago opened their campaign in style, demolishing Somerset, and the county side’s net-run rate, with a big win at the Chinnaswamy Stadium. The vaunted Somerset top order collapsed for the second match in a row, and there were no lower-order heroics to rescue them in the chase this time.
The difference between the two sides was highlighted by their batting approach in the Powerplays: T&T blasted eight fours and two sixes to sprint to 59 for 3, while Somerset hit only three boundaries to limp to 28 for 3. T&T’s quick bowlers kept the batsmen in check by not allowing them any drivable deliveries, and their disciplined trio of spinners choked Somerset with their subtle variations. Dwayne Bravo showed what the West Indies team was missing due to the contracts crisis, nipping out two early wickets, and two more at the death to finish off the match.
Marcus Trescothick was the first to go, nicking Bravo to the keeper in the second over. Craig Kieswetter pottered around for eight balls, making four, before charging out and trying to flatbat a short ball, only to lob it to Darren Bravo. Justin Langer was the next frustrated batsman dismissed; after getting only two in five balls in Sherwin Ganga’s sixth over, he pulled a legstump ball to William Perkins at square leg. Zander de Bruyn was the only one to pass 20, remaining unbeaten on 43 after coming in at No. 4.
The tight bowling meant Somerset were only allowed to pick off the singles as though in the reviled middle overs of a one-dayer, and not a frenetic Twenty20 where the asking-rate was spiralling into double digits. The first over in which they took more than eight runs was the 14th. Even that over ended with a Somerset wicket, and a trademark over-the-top Dave Mohammed celebration: a forward flip followed by a yoga exercise-like touching of the feet and the knees as he sat on the ground.
The T&T’s openers, after Daren Ganga chose to bat, went over the top, raising 43 breathless runs by the fifth over, with a mix of class, crass and cheek. Their approach was typified by the third over from Somerset’s hero in the previous match, Alfonso Thomas. Lendl Simmons got the front leg out of the way and clubbed the first ball over covers for four, attempted an agricultural slog off the fourth, deftly steered a wide full toss past the fifth past short third man for four, before rounding off the over with a neatly timed flick past midwicket for another boundary.
His opening partner William Perkins missed several scoops past the keeper, and was beaten when he tried some booming drives as well, but that didn’t stop him from trying to clobber most deliveries. When he connected, the ball went a long way; the highlight was when he sashayed down the track and powered Ben Phillips over long-off for six.
With the runs flowing, Somerset’s bowlers, as in the upset-win against Deccan Chargers, launched a fightback. They plucked four wickets in ten balls to bring the game back on an even keel. Simmons slashed the penultimate delivery of the fifth over to third man, two balls later Perkins missed a straight one from Willoughby. Darren Bravo, who had showed his confidence levels by swinging his first ball over long-on, was next to go, to a reflex caught-and-bowled from Willoughby. His brother Dwayne went for a golden-duck slapping a wide ball from legspinner Max Waller, his second delivery in two matches, to backward point.
The spin pair of Waller and Arul Suppiah then ensured a less frenzied passage of play, keeping the batsmen mostly to singles and twos. Waller was getting plenty of turn, and his googly was proving hard to read, while Suppiah fired it in flatter.
After the top-order collapse, T&T looked to the big-hitting Kieron Pollard for providing the impetus. However, he miscued a high full toss in the 16th over, leaving Denesh Ramdin the task of steering the team past 150. Ramdin’s was a measured knock compared to his team-mates, hitting only two boundaries in a run-a-ball 39. It was Sherwin Ganga though, who gave the late push that T&T needed, smashing two leg stump full tosses for four in the 19th over and launching the first ball of the final over past long-on.
The team from the Caribbean ended on a 150, certainly a competitive score but one which Somerset should have got closer to. By being shot out for their second-lowest Twenty20 score, Langer’s side are now left nervously watching the Deccan-T&T game on Wedenesday to know whether they progress.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Champions League, CLT20, Somerset, Trinidad & Tobago
“I can’t believe I have done that,” said an ecstatic Alfonso Thomas, who hit two boundaries in the last three deliveries of a thriller to steal and seal victory for Somerset. In a rollercoaster of a match, Somerset just about managed to hold their nerves courtesy a 50-run partnership for the eighth wicket between Thomas and James Hildreth to get past the line off the last ball of the match. The equation came down to five runs from three balls with one wicket left when Thomas sliced a full toss from Scott Styris – who had taken two wickets in the final over – to the deep point boundary before bringing up the win with another carve over point.
It was a strange but extremely interesting chase, and one that seemed to derail at various points as wickets fell at regular intervals. Crucially, Somerset managed to find the odd big hit that always kept them in the hunt. Rain intervened for a while, forcing the captains to regularly check the Duckworth-Lewis equation, and the drama increased when Fidel Edwards was prevented from completing his last two overs after he slipped in two beamers.
When the seventh wicket fell, Somerset still needed 55 from 37 balls but Thomas and Hildrith biffed a few boundaries against the spinners, who had done so well till then to get Deccan ahead, to get the equation down to 31 from 24. Deccan attacked with their seamers and Hildrith and Thomas started dealing in singles to slowly push Somerset ahead. The equation came down to nine from 10 balls after Thomas paddle-swept RP Singh over the short fine-leg fielder. When a yorker ran for three leg byes it seemed the game was over but there was one final twist left in this enthralling game.
With five needed from the last over, Styris bowled Hildreth first ball and then removed Max Waller off the third, but crucially for Somerset, Thomas had crossed over. And he finished the game in style.
Somerset did well in the end to get past the line but one sensed a bit of nerves in their approach to the chase especially after the raucous home crowd got into the game. Marcus Trescothick, playing his first game out of England in a while, fell after offering a fleeting glimpse of his talent with two crunchy upper cuts but some of the shots that followed his exit were almost needless: Zander de Bruyn attempted a thrash over covers and edged behind, Craig Kieswetter holed out to long-on, Peter Trego swung to deep midwicket, and even Justin Langer swatted a full delivery from well outside off to mid-on.
Not that they could have done it in singles but the run rate was never so daunting that they had to go for desperate hits. Once the top order fell, the bottom half swung their bat but lost wickets regularly till Thomas and Hildreth chose to stamp their presence in the game. The platform was laid earlier by their bowlers, with Thomas playing his part with an economical spell. VVS Laxman starred for Deccan with an uncharacteristic knock but they lost the plot in the middle and needed Venugopal Rao to push them just past 150.
You don’t use adjectives like hammer and clobber to describe shots from Laxman but tonight he almost batted with a touch of violence. He charged down the track to the seamers, cleared the front foot and heaved across the line, moved outside leg and flat-batted length deliveries back past the startled bowlers and even tried an ugly hoick across the line.
That last shot captured his mood perfectly: Laxman edged a hoick to the fine-leg boundary and sported a lovely sheepish smile. It was exactly the sentiment that many of the viewers would have felt while watching this uncharacteristic innings. We might never know whether it was merely Laxman adjusting his game to this format after his county stint or whether it was about proving a point for being stripped of his IPL captaincy and dropped from many games in the last IPL. Whatever the intent was, it suited Deccan tonight as they got off to a racy start, but they were let down by the other batsmen.
Adam Gilchrist unfurled a few big hits but top-edged a pull shot and Andrew Symonds holed out to long-on. Laxman too slowed down a touch before he fell, going for yet another heave across the line and the scoring almost came to a pause as Trego starred with his economical medium pace and de Bruyn too did his bit to apply the squeeze.
Deccan crawled from 86 for 3 in 10 overs to 99 for 4 from 15 overs as Rohit Sharma and Styris tried to rebuild the innings all over again but both fell in quick succession and Deccan was restricted to a below-par score on a batting surface. None of the IPL teams have won a game so far in the Champions League Twenty20 and Somerset made sure the script didn’t change tonight.
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written by Swapnil
\\ tags: Champions League, CLT20, Deccan Chargers, Somerset
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