Eagle Vs Somerset: Eagles 133 for 5 (van wky 47, Bailey 29) beat Somerset 132 for 8 (Durston 57, Hildreth 31, de Villiers 3-17) by five wickets Player of the match CJD de Villiers (Eagles) Decent bowling, complemented by disciplined batting, scripted Diamond Eagles' five-wicket victory over Somerset, who kissed their semi-final hopes goodbye after losing the League B encounter of the Champions League, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, in Hyderabad, on Friday. The Eagles bowlers, especially Cornelius de Villiers (4/17), did a brilliant job, allowing just one significant partnership in the Somerset innings and restricted the English outfit to a modest 132 for eight wickets. The same discipline was visible in their chase, as Morne van Wyk (47) and Ryan Bailey (29) guided them towards the victory mark and their teammates completed formalities with 1.2 overs to spare. 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. Eagles got off to an eventful start in pursuit of victory, with in-form Rilee Rossouw (13) in the thick of things. The attacking left-hander, who had slammed a half-century against Sussex, was clearly in a hurry today. He came down the track to smash the first ball across the rope, while thrashing the fourth delivery into the sightscreen for a massive six, to make a clear statement of intent. Morne van Wyk and Adrian McLaren (13) maintained the tempo, picking boundaries at will. Their stance yielded 30 quick runs before McLaren fell to Willoughby, having hit the bowler for a four off the previous delivery. In keeping with the trend, just when things were looking picture-perfect for the Eagles, came the next setback, as captain Boeta Dippenaar (18) holed out to Wes Durston off Waller in the 12th over. The situation merited caution and van Wyk … [Read more...]
CL T20 Match Preview: October 16
Friday’s double header in the T20 Champions League comprises of the Eagles v Somerset and New South Wales v Trinidad with both matches taking place in Hyderabad. Eagles v Somerset: Both these sides scraped through the group stages with the highlight being the Eagles winning a memorable one-over eliminator against Sussex to stay in the tournament. Boeta Dippenaar could do with some runs after two low scores as the Eagles top order have battled but the team showed their character against Sussex to take their place here. Somerset pulled off a memorable win of their own against Deccan Chargers on this ground though they were walloped by Trinidad and Tobago in their subsequent match. South African’s Alfonso Thomas and Zander de Bruyn performed with credit for Somerset in the first phase though Charl Willoughby has been expensive. Led by retired Australian Test opener Justin Langer, Somerset pulled off a sensational one-run win over Indian Premier League champions Deccan Chargers but lost to Caribbean side Trinidad and Tobago.Somerset are lucky to be in the Super Eight as they would have been shown the door had Deccan not lost by three runs against Trinidad. The Eagles, on the other hand, were outplayed by New South Wales in their opening match before bouncing back to beat Sussex Sharks in a must-win match to take the last available berth in the super-eight stage from their group. Both the teams lack big names and in Somerset's case, their tail-enders did better than the top-order batsmen, clinching the last-ball thriller against Deccan. Among the bowlers, pacer Alfonso Thomas played the all-rounder's role in the win against Deccan but apart from him, the team has not yet found any bowler capable enough of either containing or taking wickets. Batting has been Eagles problem and though captain Boeta Dippenaar had blamed it on a treacherous Feroze Shah Kotla track in the group stage matches, he would have no such excuse on the batting-friendly wicket. The bowling has not been any better and the two teams' common weaknesses make it an even contest. New … [Read more...]
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