T&T beat Cape Cobras in Semi way to Final

Trinidad & Tobago 178 for 3 (Bravo 58*, Ganga 44*) beat Cape Cobras 175 for 5 (Duminy 61*, Gibbs 42) by seven wickets

The only unbeaten team in the Champions League produced another compelling performance oozing with Caribbean flair to knock the Cape Cobras out of the tournament and set up a summit clash against New South Wales. The second semi-final wasn’t anywhere near as one-sided as the first, though, and Trinidad & Tobago and the Cobras traded blow for blow, wrestling for the upper hand until Dwayne Bravo’s first significant contribution with the bat in the competition turned the contest on a thrilling evening in Hyderabad.

T&T raised their intensity at crucial moments: when the Cobras’ openers made a fast start, when the middle-order batsmen batted with aggression and when, at the death, they followed up a 20-run penultimate over by conceding only two off the last. The Cobras, on the other hand, dropped an appalling number of catches and failed to contain T&T’s thrilling opening combination, which set the base for Bravo and Daren Ganga’s match-winning 93-run partnership.

The T&T approach to batting has been sheer entertainment during the Champions League and they did not let the pressure of chasing 175 in a semi-final cramp their style. Their openers, Adrian Barath and Wiliam Perkins, targeted Monde Zondeki for most of the early runs. Barath played with flamboyance and cut him for four, drove for six, and whipped to the leg side boundary to take 16 off the second over. Perkins stole the spotlight soon after, with a cheeky hat-trick of fours in the fourth. Andrew Puttick gave Rory Kleinveldt a go, but he leaked 15 off his first five balls – six of those a result of a towering cut by Barath over point.

T&T raced to 53 off 4.5 overs when a misjudged single led to Perkins’ run-out. Barath followed soon after, for 29 off 16, when he played back to Duminy and was trapped in front. But just when the Cobras had an opening, their fielding went to pieces. Lendl Simmons was dropped in successive overs by Henry Davids and, though those errors didn’t cost the Cobras much, the next one hurt them plenty.

The spinners had brought T&T’s run-rate down and there had been no boundaries for 31 balls until Bravo pulled Justin Ontong for six in the 13th over. The asking-rate was still steep – T&T needed 68 off 38 balls – when Bravo offered Ontong a catch at long-on and was dropped. The Cobras never found a way back.

Ontong watched Ganga loft the next ball over his head for six, before Bravo cut loose in Vernon Philander’s next over, hitting consecutive sixes over long-off and extra cover. The asking-rate went into freefall thereafter with the batsmen finding the boundary in every over. Bravo brought up his half-century off 31 balls by lofting Charl Langeveldt through cover, and finished the game with four balls to spare by pulling Kleinveldt to the midwicket boundary.

At one stage of the Cobras innings, though, when they were consistently scoring at nine an over, it seemed they would set T&T somewhere near 200 to chase. Aided by exceptional fielding and safe catching, T&T ensured that two well-set batsmen were never at the crease together and the Cobras momentum was not maximized as a result.

They had raced to 54 after their Powerplay, the out-of-form Herschelle Gibbs rising to the occasion and doing the bulk of the hitting by pummeling Bravo for four leg-side boundaries in an over. He even had a slice of luck when the third umpire deemed there was a bit of boot behind the line and ruled him not out after Denesh Ramdin had completed a sharp stumping of Kieron Pollard. That, however, cost T&T only one run as Gibbs was bowled by a slower one from Pollard for 42 off 27 balls.

T&T saw off the threat posed by Kleinveldt and Justin Ontong – after Pollard’s outstanding catch on the boundary line was also given not out though replays did not show the ball touching ground – and the lack of a steady partner left Duminy with the responsibility of giving the Cobras an explosive finish. He had begun by attacking Mohammed, hitting the chinaman bowler through extra cover for four and slog-sweeping him for the flattest of sixes. He brought up his half-century off 34 balls and helped Cobras take 20 off the penultimate over bowled by Bravo, who went for 46 off three. Rampaul, however, gave T&T a last-over boost by conceding only two runs off it. And Bravo made up for his largesse with the ball with a match-winning half-century.

Source@Cric Info

New South Wales beat Victoria

New South Wales 169 for 7 (Warner 48, McKay 3-27) beat Victoria 90 for 9 (Henriques 3-11)

There was no nerve-jangling, last-ball finish today, like there was when New South Wales pipped Victoria twice to win last season’s Big Bash. Instead, the Australian champions delivered a clinical performance on a difficult Feroz Shah Kotla pitch, one that ensured the first semi-final of the Champions League was one of the most one-sided matches of the tournament.

On the same pitch where fewer than 200 runs were scored in the match between Delhi Daredevils and Cape Cobras a day ago, the NSW openers David Warner and Phillip Hughes provided a powerful start, which allowed them to post 169, far more than the 110 Victoria captain Cameron White had hoped to limit them to. A tough chase became virtually impossible when offspinner Nathan Hauritz, who was given the second over, struck twice in three deliveries, getting rid of Victoria’s openers.

The build-up to the highly anticipated contest between the Australian sides centered around how difficult the track would be for power-hitting and, when Hughes was struck on the arm by a bouncer from Peter Siddle in the second over, it seemed the batsmen would have toil for their runs.

Warner, though, doesn’t toil for his runs. His Australia call-up and an IPL contract were results of his ability to tear into bowling attacks and he did just that in front of a disappointingly thin Delhi crowd. The stand-out feature of his innings was his straight-hitting on a pitch with low bounce: both his sixes were clean hits over long-off and he started the onslaught with a searing flat-batted swipe past the bowler, Shane Harwood, in the third over.

The only thing that prevented New South Wales from entering the semi-final unbeaten was a stunning 18-ball 54 from Trinidad & Tobago batsman Kieron Pollard. Victoria needed something similar but Hauritz’s blows, followed by Lee’s dismissal of Aiden Blizzard, made their task incredibly hard.

After the Powerplay, Victoria had limped to only 17 for 3, and even their experienced and highly-rated duo of White and David Hussey couldn’t pull off a rescue act. It was a slow and painful slide to an embarrassing defeat for Victoria and they didn’t even manage three figures. White had predicted at the toss that it would be a “hell of a chase” whatever NSW managed; he couldn’t have imagined a more hellish chase.

Victoria lose but qualify to next stage

Wayamba 118 for 9 (Vandort 42, Kulatunga 41, Harwood 3-14) beat Victoria 103 for 4 (Hodge 44*) by 15 runs

The Twenty20 format is supposed to be about big hits and large crowds. There wasn’t much of either at the Feroz Shah Kotla as Victoria qualified for the next stage despite losing to Wayamba, who were eliminated in a low-scoring scrap on a sluggish pitch. Both teams competed in the go-slow stakes: Wayamba making the fewest runs in the Powerplay (16) in Champions League Twenty20, and Victoria taking until the 13th over to reach 50.

After a disciplined performance from their bowlers had kept Waymba to 118, Victoria were never really in danger of elimination, as they needed only 84 to make it through. The Sri Lankan side remained in contention till the start of the 18th over of the second innings: Victoria were still 11 adrift of assured qualification, but allrounder Andrew McDonald put the issue to rest by powerfully driving the first three balls of legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi for four.

The first inkling that Wayamba weren’t going to be easily rolled over was in the third ball of the chase. Chanaka Welegedara pulled off an astonishing reflex caught-and-bowled, plucking a full-blooded Rob Quiney drive low to his left, changing direction in his follow-through.

Victoria seemed to be back in cruise control when Brad Hodge slammed a six over long-on in the fourth over and Aiden Blizzard swiped a boundary to midwicket three balls later. However, Blizzard was bowled next delivery by Welegedara, bringing together Hodge and David Hussey, the two leading run-getters in Twenty20s.

They hardly looked like the most accomplished of Twenty20 batsmen, though, as Wayamba’s attack maintained a disciplined line and length. Much-improved left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, in particular, sent down some shooters, balls which barely bounced after pitching on a length. Hussey scratched around for a 22-ball 7, and was lucky to not be stumped when stand-in keeper Mahela Jayawardene missed a low delivery from Herath. Hodge batted through the innings, but never really came to terms with the conditions, finishing on an unbeaten 44.

Wayamba’s batsmen had similar problems, hardly displaying any power in the Powerplays. The top order mistimed plenty of strokes, and adding to the lack of boundaries was panicky running; several suicidal singles were pinched but Victoria just couldn’t get a direct hit.

After Mahela Udawatte was caught plumb in front by Peter Siddle in the second over, Wayamba sent in Michael Vandort, a man with the uninspiring Twenty20 strike-rate of 89.38. He struggled to match even that for much of his innings, eating up 17 Powerplay deliveries for his first four runs. Giving him company was Jeevantha Kulatunga, who while not playing fluently, was certainly more at ease than Vandort.

It was Kulatunga who provided some momentum in Wayamba’s best phase of the innings: the five overs immediately after the Powerplay, in which they scored 47 runs with some crisp straight hitting. Vandort also got going once the spinners were on, and the pair took their side to 85 for 1 after 14 overs.

Just when it seemed Wayamba could make the most of the one advantage of the initial slowness, the many wickets they had in hand, the batting unravelled. Clint McKay, the star against Delhi Daredevils, took the wind out of the opposition again, removing both set batsmen in one over. His fast-bowling team-mates, Shane Harwood and Andrew McDonald matched him, by snaring two each in an over, leaving Wayamba at 105 for 7.

At that stage it seemed the match would turn out to be another demonstration of the might of the Australian domestic teams. However, Wayamba fought back splendidly to pull off a surprise win. That didn’t stop Victoria from making it to round two, to which both Australian sides have carried over two points as well.

Eagles qualify after thrilling eliminator

Sussex 119 for 7 (Gatting 25, de Villiers 2-20, du Preez 2-23) tied with Eagles 119 for 4 (Rossouw 65, Chawla 2-17, Hamilton-Brown 2-15) Eagles win one-over eliminator by nine runs

The eliminator came into play for the first time in the Champions League, Eagles and Sussex slugging it out during one super over each after being tied at the end of a dramatic regulation 40 overs. The tie-breaker lasted all of eight balls as Cornelius de Villiers bagged two Sussex wickets off his first two deliveries to hand Eagles a nine-run win.

It should have never got this close. The Eagles were cruising in their pursuit of 120, needing a mere 48 runs off 54 balls with all ten wickets intact to qualify for the second round, when their innings unraveled sensationally against an inspired performance from Sussex’s slow bowlers. They were left needing 12 runs off the final over, and five off the last ball, when Ryan McLaren clubbed Yasir Arafat to the deep midwicket boundary to tie the match and bring the one-over eliminator into play. The Eagles managed only nine from the over but de Villiers, entrusted with the defence, uprooted the off stumps of Dwayne Smith and Rory Hamilton-Brown with the first two deliveries to secure a victory that should have been achieved without so much sweating.

Rossouw never took his pads off after returning to the dug out and watched as McLaren edged Arafat past the keeper to reduce the equation to five off two balls. Arafat followed it up with a fantastic yorker off the fifth but McLaren heaved the final ball for four to give Eagles a lifeline.

Such a tense finish was unimaginable when Rossouw was batting, on seemingly a different surface from the one that Sussex struggled on. He hit his second delivery, off Luke Wright, past square leg for four and then lofted over mid-off. Michael Yardy bowled different bowlers in each of the first four overs to try and mix things up but it didn’t work.

Rossouw targeted the on side for the bulk of his runs. Against Smith’s gentle medium pace, he cleared his front leg and smashed one over the bowler’s head. Against James Kirtley, he got down on his knee and swung over wide long-on, and gave Arafat the same treatment after chipping down the track. Prior to this game, he had a highest score of just 11 and Rossouw couldn’t have picked a better occasion to score his maiden Twenty20 fifty.

He was lucky to be let off twice though. On 37, the wicketkeeper Andy Hodd failed to collect the ball after Rossouw was already a couple of yards down the pitch. And shortly after reaching his fifty, he survived a run out after being sent back. Sussex will look back at those two reprieves and wonder what could have been.

Sussex would have fancied their chances after making only 119, a defendable total on a typically slow and low pitch at the Kotla. A couple of hours ago, Wayamba had successfully defended 118. Their openers came out with a plan to get off to a blazing start before scoring became difficult against the slower bowlers. With the strong possibility of the old ball keeping low, the strategy was to chip down the track, get close to the pitch of the ball and muscle it over the infield.

Oram retires from Test cricket

Jacob Oram has announced his retirement from Test cricket but will continue to play one-day and Twenty20 matches for New Zealand. Oram cited his ongoing injury problems as the reason behind his decision and he hoped that by cutting back his workload he would be able to extend his international career.

Oram, 31, recently returned home from the Champions Trophy in South Africa with a hamstring problem, the latest in a long and wide-ranging list of injuries. His troubles have included back and foot worries and have limited him to 33 Test appearances over a seven-year career.

He had spoken in the past of the options available to him to prolong his career and he said his preference was to give up Tests rather than abandon bowling. Oram has now done just that, following the lead of another injury-prone allrounder Andrew Flintoff.

“The last few years have shown that my body cannot handle the strains and stresses that come with being an allrounder, playing all three formats for up to ten months a year,” Oram said. “For the sake of longevity I have had to make a decision that will decrease my workload, so I can concentrate all my efforts on the shorter forms of the game.

“The decision to choose limited-overs cricket over Test cricket has a lot to do with playing opportunities. The Black Caps play a lot more limited-overs cricket than Tests, and there’s also the opportunity to continue playing in world events such as the World Cup, World T20 and Champions Trophy, as well as the IPL.”

On the Test scene, Oram scored 1780 runs at 36.32 and collected 60 wickets at 33.05. A powerful and clean striker of the ball, Oram struck five Test centuries, remarkably each time in the first Test of a series, and his highest score of 133 came in a crushing loss to South Africa in Centurion in April 2006.

It was an innings that Oram described as both his best and his worst. “You know you’re not looking as good as you would like,” he said at the time, “and your feet aren’t moving as well as you would like, and you’re not hitting the ball where you would like. But 133 is damn satisfying.”

Oram struggled to have as much impact with the ball and his peak came early in his career when he collected 4 for 41 against India in Hamilton in his second Test. It was as close as he ever got to a five-wicket haul and in his last five Tests he managed only one wicket.

Oram did enjoy spending some time in the top five of the ICC’s allrounder ranking list last year and he considered his bowling such a key part of his game that he was unwilling to give it up. He said he had attempted to delay as long as possible a decision about his future career.

“However in light of my latest injury at the Champions Trophy it has became clear to me that now is the time to sacrifice something to try and stay in the game longer,” Oram said. “I have really enjoyed my Test career and I leave that format with many fond memories. I would be lying if I said I had no regrets, however these feelings were not powerful enough to make me reconsider this decision.”

Bangalore squall into second round

Bangalore 188 for 2 (Kallis 73*) beat Otago 108 (Kallis 3-18) by 80 runs

The stakes were high, the task unambiguous: the winner would progress to the second round of the Champions League, the loser would to go home. And Jacques Kallis chose this stage to deliver a tremendous performance, one that ensured Bangalore’s qualification, and Otago’s elimination, from the tournament: his unbeaten half-century was the bedrock of a destructive batting exhibition, and his three-wicket opening spell knocked the stuffing out of the opposition’s chase.

Bangalore’s batsmen were barely troubled as they motored towards a formidable score. Their total of 188 was methodically constructed: the openers Robin Uthappa and Kallis denied their opponents the early breakthrough and built a launch pad, which Virat Kohli and Ross Taylor used to accelerate from during the final overs. Bangalore’s innings was shaped by two half-century stands, 75 between Uthappa and Kallis, and 59 between Kallis and Kohli, and they left much of their ammunition – Rahul Dravid, Mark Boucher and Roelof van der Merwe – unused. Uthappa and Kohli were the aggressors during those partnerships but Kallis provided propulsion during the final overs and finished unbeaten on 73. Taylor made a late entrance and stole the limelight by clobbering 32 off 11 balls, ransacking 25 runs off the final over from Otago helpless bowlers.

It wasn’t crash, bang and wallop from the word go though. Uthappa and Kallis took their time settling in on a pitch that was on the slower side, playing watchfully, choosing orthodoxy over adventure during the initial overs. And when the boundaries began to flow, they were results of proper batsmanship. Uthappa cover drove Neil Wagner on the up for his first boundary before targeting the wide long-on region for a four and a six off Dimitri Mascarenhas and Ian Butler. He then went straight, hitting with power twice over the bowlers’ heads for fours. Bangalore scored 46 off the Powerplay, and more importantly had lost no wickets. Kallis had remained quiet during this phase but brought up the 50 partnership with a cut off Butler to the backward-point boundary.

With Kallis taking charge it seemed as though Taylor, who received an unprecedented and massive cheer from the Bangalore crowd, would not get the opportunity to showcase his skills but that changed after he took strike for the last five balls of the innings. He pulled the first from Butler to the midwicket boundary, and deposited the second into the crowd behind long-off. The suffering was too much for Butler, who had been struggling with a knee problem, and he went off the ground, leaving Warren McSkimming the responsibility of bowling the last three balls. Taylor carted the first and last of those over the square-leg boundary, providing the innings a rocket-fuelled finish. Otago suffered because of the sameness of their bowlers – primarily medium-pace without quality spinners – but Bangalore had no such problems.

Although Kallis had made an invaluable contribution with the bat, he was overshadowed during the initial partnerships and at the end by Taylor’s blitz. However, he came to the fore once again during his opening spell – four overs on the trot – which accounted for Otago’s top three batsmen and effectively ended the contest. With clever and frequent changes of pace, Kallis struck a body blow in his second over when he foxed Brendon McCullum to hole out to mid-on. A ball later Kallis sent down a quick bouncer that had Redmond succumbing to cover.

Hamish Rutherford briefly lifted Otago’s gloom by hitting Vinay Kumar for three fours in an over but Kallis returned to snuff out his innings with a slower ball and completed a maiden over as well. His outstanding figures of 3-1-6-3 were spoilt just a little by two boundaries in his final over but, by the time Kallis was finished with bat and ball, there was no way back for Otago.

They crumbled thereafter, collapsing for 108, against a team that was determined not to become the first casualty of the Champions League Twenty20. Fittingly it was Kallis who performed the final act, catching Neil Wagner on the long-on boundary to spark off celebrations.

New South Wales cruise into second round

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

New South Wales, the champions of Australia’s Big Bash, were the first team from Group B to secure passage, with points carried forward, to the second round of the Champions League. They did so by showing tremendous adaptability in both their matches on slow Delhi pitches with low bounce. Phillip Hughes and Moises Henriques quickly assessed what a competitive total would be on such a surface – only 130 was needed today – and their bowlers, fast and spin alike, bowled a dangerous stump-to-stump line, snuffing out Sussex’s chase with early wickets and extremely few Powerplay runs.

The game was won for NSW during the 90-run partnership between Hughes and Henriques. Hughes played the patient innings while Henriques used the long handle to telling effect. Both batsmen reached half-centuries but, despite being extremely well set, were unable to provide the slog-over thrust needed to take the total towards 150. That they were unable to do so was more an indictment of how difficult batting was on this surface than a criticism of their power-hitting skills.

Just how tough Sussex’s chase would be was evident in Brett Lee’s 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. The total of 130 had suddenly grown in stature.

NSW’s innings was in strife at 40 for 2 and they had reached only 50 at the half-way stage when the acceleration came. Hughes hit the first six in the 11th over, muscling Piyush Chawla with a flat bat over long off, and Henriques, who was dropped at cover a few balls later, struck the second, slog-sweeping over deep midwicket. 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.

The batsmen scored 45 runs between overs 10 and 15 and, with eight wickets in hand, a score of 150 was probable. 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.

It isn’t often that a team scores merely 130 in a Twenty20 match despite having eight wickets in the bank but it was that sort of a pitch. It got lower and slower as the day wore on; the batsmen struggled to find timing and had to stay vigilant to keep out the occasional shooter. Robin Martin-Jenkins’ first delivery of the match set the tone as it thudded into the bottom of David Warner’s bat. The Sussex bowlers rarely wavered from the straight-and-narrow line, hoping they would hit if the batsmen misjudged the pace and bounce. It was a method NSW’s attack would implement with success.

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 and, so when Simon Katich gave the ball to Steven Smith as soon as the fielding restrictions were lifted, Rory Hamilton-Brown charged the young legspinner immediately. He advanced and swung across the line but was beaten by flight and turn, leaving Daniel Smith with an easy stumping.

The chase was floundering at 26 for 2 and Dwayne Smith adopted a similar approach against Steven Smith. He swiped repeatedly across the line and was beaten. He eventually connected and sent the ball rapidly to the long-on boundary but Sussex needed him to contribute substantially. However, 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.

All-round Delhi Daredevils deflect purging

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

The prospect of a league stage line-up without a single Indian IPL team would have been a nightmare for the organisers and television rights holders, but Delhi Daredevils’ merciless showing today went a long way in dispelling those fears. With their backs to the wall, the fear of elimination in front of their home fans drove them to deliver a 50-run walloping against Wayamba and also reverse the trend of low-scoring games at the Kotla.

The performance of the Australian pace-bowling duo of Dirk Nannes and Glenn McGrath effectively shut Wayamba out of the game early in the chase but the foundation was laid by a brilliant display of power hitting by Virender Sehwag and Dinesh Karthik. Their 67-run partnership pushed Delhi to a score at least 30 runs above what captains had predicted to be competitive after summing up the conditions over the last three games at this venue.

The pitch at the Kotla came under scrutiny after the first couple of games on Friday and again today when New South Wales had to grind it out on a slow and low surface to post 130. Both NSW and Delhi employed strong horizontal bat shots, but the difference was the Delhi pair’s tremendous bat speed that allowed them to collectively hit 15 fours and four sixes. Without taking any credit away from NSW, the duo of Phillip Hughes and Moises Henriques managed only seven fours and three sixes between them.

In the context of Delhi’s assault, the first three overs – which yielded just three runs and included an opening-over maiden – were an aberration. The innings opened up in the fourth over when Isuru Udana, whose slower balls and good length deliveries got a little predictable, got hit for three boundaries.

There was a lull when two star attractions in Tillakaratne Dilshan and Gautam Gambhir departed in quick succession. Those strikes didn’t deter Sehwag who gave the raucous home crowd plenty to cheer with some powerful strokes off the front foot.

Farveez Maharoof was brought in to take the pace off the ball and make run-scoring difficult but Delhi didn’t allow him to settle. Karthik cleverly picked the huge gap at third man, dabbing him past the keeper for two boundaries in an over. His initial strategy was to knock the ball into the gaps and allow Sehwag the strike. The track had given the spinners assistance in the NSW game and the Sehwag and Karthik, perhaps mindful of that, didn’t want them to settle into a comfort zone either. Sehwag slogged Kaushal Lokuarachchi’s first ball over deep midwicket before Karthik too joined in the act, reaching out to drive the bowler past the covers.

A frantic call for a single cost Sehwag his wicket but the innings never lost momentum, thanks to Karthik who was already well-set. In the 19th over, Karthik slogged Ajantha Mendis for three consecutive sixes over the leg side, much in the same vein as Justin Ontong’s late assault for the Cape Cobras on Saturday.

The match was all but sealed when Nannes and McGrath punched holes into the Wayamba top order to reduce them to a hapless 36 for 5. Mahela Udawatte swung at thin air and lost his middle stump to Nannes while Michael Vandort was bowled by same bowler after making a start with two impressive boundaries. The Powerplay overs yielded an unsatisfactory 31 and the minute Jeevantha Kulatunga tried to force the pace against Amit Mishra, he holed out to sweeper cover. McGrath knocked back Jehan Mubarak’s off stump for a first-ball duck and with it all hopes of a competitive chase.

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.

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.

Future is in Twenty-Twenty League: IPL Commisoner

Lalit Modi, chairman of the Champions League Twenty20’s governing council, is certain the tournament will result in the “rapid growth” of club cricket around the world. Modi also said there was a strong chance the Champions League would be taken to non-cricket playing countries as a means to expand the game’s reach and get other countries to embrace cricket.

“The Champions League has been developed to embrace club cricket all round the world,” he said on the day of the tournament launch in Bangalore. “It’s a place where we can find young cricketers who then play for their national sides. The IPL is a great example of a domestic club-level tournament, and similarly nations around the world have club tournaments. The objective here is not to make money, it is to build the game, to build club-level cricket, to find and nurture new talent. Money is not the criteria. The objective here is that we have some of the best players around the world and we hope that in years to come the Champions League comes to symbolise what the UEFA [version] is to football.

“From this year itself the tournaments in countries like Sri Lanka, New Zealand and West Indies will become more competitive. You’ll see players who were not participating in domestic tournaments who will now take part and do well. Before, once players graduated from their clubs, they became international players and if at all they went back to their clubs they hardly played a few games. But the rules of the Champions League are that you have to play for your club, and your club must win to participate here. You won’t get a chance to be here unless you’ve not played for your club.”

Dean Kino, head of business and legal affairs for the Champions League, said one positive fallout of this competition would be to give context to domestic cricket. “It increases the passion of grassroots cricketers to be involved for their states and provinces. If you look at the interest in the KFC Twenty20 Big Bash in Australia and the IPL over the last six months, you will see that the result of going to the Champions League has been hugely stimulating. At the domestic level it will drive young cricketers to the game and that will build on domestic cricket and make it stronger.”

Modi felt there was no better format than Twenty20 to draw new audiences and one way to do so was to broadcast matches across the world in different languages. While the current focus is to take the Champions League to participating nations, there is a definite plan to expand the competition. “That is a definite possibility. The immediate future is that we have South Africa, Australia and New Zealand as leading candidates and the objective would be to move within the participating countries,” he said. “But we must make the competition more broadcast-friendly and show it to countries that have never seen cricket before. Like the IPL did, we have to get more women and children hooked onto this game.”

The governing council has definite plans to take the tournament on the road, with Modi confirming that future editions will move from country to country. Kino said the concept was to move the competition around as much as possible. “We will look at newer, cricket-playing countries primarily but beyond the next ten years a decision will be taken as to whether it is appropriate to bring the game to non cricket-playing countries. We want to take the grassroots level of cricket to as many countries as possible.”

To make the Champions League more prestigious, one change could be to increase the number of participating teams, something the governing council will decide on after the inaugural tournament. Modi and Kino ruled out a home-and-away format, like in the IPL and other domestic tournaments, because of the obvious difficulties in flying teams across the world on a daily basis. “As a global league it is very important to get crickets playing all around the world and give them the opportunity to play on different surfaces, in front of different fans and cultures,” Modi said.

The IPL, run by the BCCI, has been extremely successful and Kino was hopeful the Champions League would blossom with the inputs of Cricket Australia and other boards. “The Champions League doesn’t arise from the IPL,” he said. “Representatives of Cricket Australia, the BCCI and Cricket South Africa talked about the possibility of a Champions League even before the concept of the IPL was invented. We’ve been talking about this for years and it’s been a matter of getting the right time and place to launch. Whereas the IPL certainly helped leverage interest in the event, the Champions League stands by itself as an international event. It becomes