CL T20 has two games on Sunday, New South Wales took on Sussex and the Delhi Daredevils clash with Wayamba.

 

CL T20 Match reviews:

 

1.New South Wales v Sussex:

 

New South Wales 130 for 2 (Hughes 62*, Henriques 51*) beat Sussex 95 for 8 (Nash 24, Henriques 3-23) by 35 runs.

 

Player of the match: MC Henriques (New South Wales)

 

New South Wales, the champions of Australia’s Big Bash, became the second team to qualify for the next stage after Cape Cobras, who made it to the last eight league round after defeating Otago Volts on Saturday. They did so by showing tremendous adaptability in both their matches on slow Delhi pitches with low bounce.

 

Moises Henriques’s all-round show guided New South Wales Blues to the League stage of the Champions League Twenty20 as the Australian side beat Sussex Sharks comfortably by 35 runs. Henriques smashed a 33-ball unbeaten 51 and in the company of Phillip Hughes, who batted superbly for his unbeaten 64-ball 62 helped New South Wales reach a modest 130 for two after opting to bat. Henriques then picked up three wickets for 23 runs from his four overs to shape his team’s victory.

Defending a modest 130, in-form Brett Lee gave a dream start to NSW. In his opening over of the chase, Bowling fast and straight, Lee pitched one on a length: the ball stayed low, ripped through Ed Joyce’s defence, and crashed into the middle of off stump.

Opener Chris Nash (24 off 30) was the lone bright spot in Sussex batting line-up but he too crumbled under pressure when his side needed him.

 

Without their inspirational captain Michael Yardy, who didn’t play the match due to illness, the Sussex batsmen found life difficult against the pace duo of Lee and Doug Bollinger as they could manage only 12 runs of the first four overs.

 

Earlier, the NSW started on a cautious note on the unpredictable Kotla pitch, scoring 30 runs in the first six overs. NSW’s innings was in strife at 40 for 2 and they had reached only 50 at the half-way stage. NSW took 17 runs off the 11th over and appeared to be back on track. Henriques had struck three sixes during his cameo against the Eagles and began to do a repeat, launching Rory Hamilton-Brown over extra cover and clearing the long-on boundary off James Kirtley.

 

For Sussex leg-spinner Piyush Chawla was the lone wicket-taker, giving away 21 runs off his two overs. Introduced into the attack in the ninth over, Chawla struck immediately, getting the wicket of Daniel Smith (2), caught at wide long-on boundary by Robin Martin-Jenkins.

 

Sussex bowlers though did well in the slog overs, giving away just 35 runs in the last five overs to restrict the Australian side to the modest total. There were no boundaries in the last four overs, though, the most eventful delivery being the beamer from Dwayne Smith that crashed into the wicketkeeper’s helmet, and NSW had to settle for less.

 

After Brett Lee’s searing opening spell of 2-1-3-1, which included Joyce’s wicket, Doug Bollinger and Henriques kept the batsmen quiet. Sussex had scored only 26 off the Powerplay. On a pitch that needed batsmen to remain watchful and balanced, Dwayne Smith moved towards leg to manufacture room to guide Bollinger to third man.

 

He missed and was bowled. Sussex’s bad situation grew worse when Henriques struck with successive deliveries to reduce them to 64 for 5 and it became dire when two more fell with the score on 68. Henriques ended an excellent match by dismissing Andy Hodd and finished with figures of 3 for 23 to go with his match-winning half-century.

 

 

2. Delhi Daredevils v Wayamba:

 

Delhi Daredevils 170 for 5 (Sehwag 66, Karthik 61) beat Wayamba 120 for 7 (Jayawardene 54, Nannes 4-24, McGrath 2-20) by 50 runs

 

Player of the match V Sehwag (Delhi Daredevils)

 

The Delhi Daredevils have completed a thumping 50-run victory against Wayamba Elevens. With that they have kept their hopes alive of qualifying for the next round of the tournament. They were propelled to a competitive target by Sehwag (66) and Karthik (61). Chasing 171 was never going to be easy. Wayamba Elevens needed a big partnership but they never got going. Nehra, Nannes, Mishra and McGrath bowled economically.

 

Nannes picked up four wickets and McGrath surprised one and all with his pin-point accuracy on his return to the game after so many months. Jayawardena was the lone-warrior for his team with a fighting half century. Unfortunately no one stood with him to give the Daredevils a run for their money.

 

Delhi never showed any signs of slackness in the field even while Wayamba had two capable batsmen in Mahela Jayawardene and Maharoof at the crease. Dilshan set one such example when he sprinted all the way from mid-off to his right and took a tumbling catch to send back Maharoof.

 

Jayawardene, walking in at No.4, helped himself to a half-century which got lost in the collapse. His innings featured two clean strikes over the rope and a reverse sweep for four. He then holed out to long-off to hand Nannes his fourth wicket.

 

A 67-run partnership between Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik pushed Delhi Daredevils to a score 170 runs after summing up the conditions over the last three games at this venue. Delhi went into the game with their backs to the wall, and it was perhaps the fear of yet another failure in front of their home crowd that inspired the exhibition of power hitting, perhaps best exemplified by Karthik’s three consecutive sixes off Ajantha Mendis.

 

In their last ten overs, Delhi slammed 104 runs. Wayamba, in their full quota, managed only 120 runs and there lay the big difference between the teams. Though Jayawardene’s effort came in a lost cause, it could make a difference if the net run rate comes into the picture at the end of the round.

 

Author: Mona Gupta, New Delhi

 

 

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