Katich bowled over by reaching final

New South Wales Blues captain Simon Katich praised his bowlers after reaching the final of the Champions League Twenty20.

NSW claimed a commanding 79-run win over Victoria Bushrangers in the first semi-final in Delhi.

David Warner (48) and Phil Hughes (35) gave NSW a cracking start on their way to a formidable 169 for seven.

Off-spinner Nathan Hauritz, who shared the new ball with Brett Lee, then struck twice in his first over as Victoria's chase suffered an early jolt.

They never recovered from those blows and finished with a meagre 90 for nine.
"We thought of it earlier in the day and we thought he (Hauritz) would be an option to their batsman upfront. He did a great job and it worked," Katich said.

"With that new ball some spun and the others skidded on and it was always going to be hard for their opening batsmen to judge what was going to happen.

"Our bowlers have been fantastic right through the tournament and they are a big reason for our progress so far.

"It was a great team effort all around. Warner and Hughes set the tone early with the bat and the rest of the guys chipped in nicely.

"We tried to break it up, have left-right combinations in the middle overs to the spinners.

"We tried to keep the momentum going right through the innings, even when the ball got softer and made it harder to score towards the end.

"All the bowlers were outstanding and our fielding was really sharp.

"I think we have got consistent performances across the board with both bat and ball and hopefully we can carry that confidence into the final."

South African side Cape Cobras take on Trinidad and Tobago, the only team to have beaten NSW in the competition, in the second semi-final tomorrow.
Victoria captain Cameron White is already looking ahead to the next edition of the tournament.

"We were outplayed by a very good outfit," White admitted. "The pitch was marginally better than the ones we played on here earlier on, but it still wasn't a 160 pitch, although NSW got there.

"We gave away a few too many runs and the only thing we can do is to go back and work hard in Australia and hopefully we can qualify next year.

"I think the future of this tournament is strong and, from our point of view, it's a great experience for some of our guys who haven't been here before.

"We will take plenty of experience away and hopefully it will help us give it a crack again next year."

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