Diamond Eagles beat Somerset by 5 wickets

HYDERABAD: 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 on Friday.

The Eagles bowlers, especially Cornelius de Villiers (4/17) did a brilliant job - allowing just one significant partnership in the Somerset innings - restricting the English outfit to a modest 132 for eight wickets.

The same discipline was the hall-mark of their chase as Morne van Wyk (47) and Ryan Bailey (29) guided them near the victory mark and their team-mates completed the rest with 1.2 overs to spare. The Eagles got off to an eventful start in their pursuit for the 133-run 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. He came down the track to meet the first ball he received to send it across the rope, while depositing the fourth delivery in the sight-screen for a massive six to make a statement of intent.

Charl Willoughby's torment, however, was soon over as Alfredo Thomas pouched Rossouw's skier at mid-on to see the back of the batsman, who was looking ominous.
Morne van Wyk and Adrian McLaren (13) maintained the tempo, picking boundaries at will and their stance had yielded 30 quick runs when McLaren fell to Willoughby, having hit the bowler for a four in the previous delivery. If van Wyk was perturbed after losing two partners, it did not show as he smote Max Waller for a huge six over mid-wicket.

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 sensibly retreated into a shell, leaving the job of scoring to Ryan Bailey (29).
Both eventually fell in quick succession but by then, the writing was clear on the wall for Somerset and Ryan McLaren and Alan Kruger completed the formality.

Earlier, Wes Durston starred in a 77-run stand with James Hildreth to guide Somerset to 132/8 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.

Recovering from the shock of Marcus Trescothick's sudden departure for home due to stress-related illness, Somerset found themselves in a hole at 52/5 inside nine overs with Corneius de Villiers (4/17) wreaking havoc on their top and middle order.

Durston (57 off 32 balls), who replaced Trescothick, and Hildreth (31) then steadied the ship with a crucial partnership that may not have resulted in an imposing total but at least gave their bowlers something to defend.

de Villiers triggered panic in his first over, trapping opener Craig Kieswater (8) and next man in Arul Suppiah (0) with his fourth and fifth legitimate deliveries, separated by a wide ball in between.

In his next over, de Villiers removed Zander de Bruyn (2) and at 19 for three, the situation looked anything but rosy for the English side.

His team in crisis, a lot was expected from Justin Langer (12), but two back-to-back fours off Shadley van Schalkwyk were all he managed before Thandi Tshabalala castled him with his first delivery.

Alan Kruger then caught Peter Tego off his own delivery before Durston and Hildreth did some damage control job.

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Eagles end Sussex's hopes

Diamond Eagles ended Sussex's Airtel Champions League campaign by defeating the Sharks in a 'Super Over' after scores were tied.
Sussex managed only 119 for seven, Joe Gatting top-scoring with 25 and Ed Joyce contributing 21.

Opener Rilee Rossouw hit 65 off 62 balls as the Eagles appeared set to reach their target easily.

But Sharks spinners Piyush Chawla and Rory Hamilton-Brown pulled things back, and the South Africans managed only to tie scores - 119 for four.

The 'Super Over' rule - an extra over with teams permitted only three batsmen and one bowler and the 'innings' ending if a side loses two wickets - was applied.

The Eagles managed 10, while Sussex lost two wickets off the first two deliveries to hand their opponents victory and a berth in the second round.

Luke Wright had given Sussex some momentum with the bat at the start of the match.

But after clubbing Cornelius de Villiers for a six and four, he lost his off-stump attempting another big hit to leg.

Chris Nash followed his opening partner back, the first of Dillon du Preez's two victims - and de Villiers pulled off a spectacular caught and bowled to send back Hamilton-Brown.

Joyce and captain Michael Yardy - back after missing his team's first match against New South Wales Blues because of an illness - briefly held the innings together.

But it was the stand between Joyce and Gatting which carried Sussex past the 100-run mark.

Gatting, by far the most fluent of Sussex's batsmen, dominated a 29-run stand for the sixth wicket.

Rossouw's response on a low and slow surface contained some powerful hitting down the ground, as the Eagles' chase began well.

He smacked five boundaries and two towering sixes inside the first six overs and brought up his half-century in just 39 deliveries.

The left-hander's opening partner Adrian McLaren contributed only 16 in an opening stand worth 72.

Rossouw was dropped on 26 by James Kirtley at short fine-leg; wicketkeeper Andy Hodd missed a chance offered by McLaren on 10.

Chawla, who eventually accounted for McLaren, missed an obvious chance to run out Rossouw at the non-striker's end just after the batsman had reached his 50.

The Eagles were on course. But Chawla applied the brakes with his leg-breaks.

Off-spinner Hamilton-Brown then bowled Boeta Dippenaar and dismissed Rossouw too in the penultimate over.

The Eagles needed 12 off the last over, and Pakistan seamer Yasir Arafat conceded three singles first up.

But Ryan McLaren managed an inside-edged boundary off the fourth and then struck another four over midwicket to tie the scores.

Arafat was nominated for the 'Super Over' and conceded nine runs, for the wicket of Rossouw - who was run out.

For the Eagles, De Villiers bowled Dwayne Smith and Hamilton Brown with his first two deliveries.

The teams:
Eagles: RR Rossouw, HH Dippenaar, AP McLaren, MN van Wyk†, RT Bailey, R McLaren, AK Kruger, D du Preez, CJD de Villiers, T Tshabalala, PV Mpitsang

Sussex: CD Nash, LJ Wright, RJ Hamilton-Brown, DR Smith, EC Joyce, JS Gatting, MH Yardy, PP Chawla, Yasir Arafat, RJ Kirtley, AJ Hodd

Sussex fight back, eliminator to decide result

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)

A desperate swing by Ryan McLaren off the last ball of the chase went screeching towards the deep midwicket boundary to seal the first tie of the Champions League which would be decided by the one-over eliminator. The Eagles were cruising to victory at one stage in the chase of a modest 120 but suddenly started to crumble under pressure in the last five overs. Yasir Arafat leaked 11 off the final over and took the ball again for Sussex for the one-over shootout.

20 overs Sussex 119 for 7 (Gatting 25, de Villiers 2-20, du Preez 2-23) v Eagles

The stakes were high in this knockout clash in Group A, but at the end of 20 overs it was difficult to place bets on a winner. Sussex opted to bat but the top order failed to give a good account of themselves against the Eagles, who put in a disciplined and enthusiastic performance in the field. Sussex limped to 119, below-par by Twenty20 standards, but a potentially match-wining one on a typically slow-and-low pitch at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

The Sussex openers came out with a clear-cut plan to get off to a blazing start before scoring became difficult against the slower bowlers. With the strong possibility of the odd ball keeping low, going by the trend of the earlier games, the strategy was to chip down the track, get close to the pitch of the ball and muscle it over the infield.

Not that it worked consistently for Sussex. Luke Wright, making his first appearance after a one-match absence, wasted no time in settling in as he sent his first ball over the sightscreen. He followed that up with another clean hit against Cornelius de Villiers before the bowler hit back in the same over by knocking back the off stump following an overconfident swish across the line. Sussex lost their trump card at the top and the batsmen rarely dominated since his departure.

Chris Nash and Rory Hamilton-Brown too perished trying to force the pace. While Nash offered a dolly to mid-on, Hamilton-Brown's flat-batted slap would have screeched down the ground in normal circumstances, but de Villiers' lightning reflexes got in the way. The bowler managed to cup it with both hands low to his right despite having to change direction in his follow through.

With the wicketkeeper upto the stumps, Sussex found it difficult to hit with confidence. Their top draw in the middle order, Dwayne Smith, too struggled to put the ball away and in frustration, inside edged onto his off stump. Michael Yardy and Ed Joyce had to grind it out by picking up the singles. There staged a brief recovery with a fifth-wicket stand of 24 before Yardy chopped Ryan Bailey onto his stumps.

Sussex couldn't push on for a while after he departed and the boundary drought lasted 32 balls before Joe Gatting clubbed du Preez over deep midwicket. Gatting and Piyush Chawla tried to push the scoring towards the end and succeeded in finding a couple of boundaries. Victoria found it hard to chase a similar score earlier in the evening, and Eagles will know their task won't be very easy in this winner-takes-all clash.

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NSW secure an easy win against Eagles

New South Wales' attack put up a spirited show to start their Airtel Champions League Twenty20 campaign on a high by beating Diamond Eagles by 53 runs.

After Simon Katich helped NSW put up 144 on the board, his bowlers wrecked havoc against Diamond Eagles. Eagles could only manage 91/9 in return.

Brett Lee sent the Eagles opener Rilee Rossouw packing right in the first over as umpire had no second thoughts in giving an lbw.

Adrian McLaren could not make it to the crease in time and Eagles lost two wickets before even making 15 runs inside three overs.

Morne van Wyk then headed back to the pavillion without opening his score. Phil Hughes took an easy catch at short midwicket off Stuart Clark for the third wicket.

Clark struck again to claim Boeta Dippenaar's wicket as Katich proved to be safe hands.

Eagles lost their fifth wicket in Dean Elgar as Nathan Hauritz picked his first one of the day.

Ryan Bailey was the sixth one to depart as he got run out.

Moises Henriques then accounted for the seventh wicket in Shadley van Schalkwyk.

Earlier, Diamond Eagles' bowling attack came good at the end of the innings to restrict New South Wales to 144/6. NSWRyan Bailey claimed the next one in Warner. He chipped it outside leg stump and Warner mistimed to lose his wicket.

Rossouw made no mistake at the long-off to dismiss Katich off Shadley van Schalkwyk to break NSW's momentum. had won the toss and elected to bat.

Victor Mpitsang bowled a slower one to Phil Hughes and got the better of his off-stump to account for the first wicket.

NSW at 69/1 at the end of the 10th over. Simon Katich and David Warner looking pretty good in the middle out there after the early loss. They had finished the first five overs at just 29/1.

Moises Henriques was the next victim of van Schalkwyk, with AP McLaren taking an easy catch at short point.

Dillon du Preez then sent Steven Smith packing to rock NSW's hopes of putting up a decent score on board.

Brett Lee was then run out without opening his account as his side finished at 144/6.

Diamond Eagles will have to play out of their skin to start their Airtel CL T20 campaign on a winning note against a formidable NSW Blues.

Considering the big names in captain Simon Katich, Stuart Clark, Nathan Hauritz and Brett Lee among others in the NSW
squad, Lee, the champion Australian side is undoubtedly the overwhelming favourites in the opening Group B match at the Feroz Shah Kotla ground in Delhi.

On the other hand, the Eagles are the underdogs in the encounter, but one thing which is in the favour of Boeta Dippenaar-led side is their opponents lack of knowledge about them.

The Teams:

New South Wales: MC Henriques, PJ Hughes, BJ Rohrer, DLR Smith†, SPD Smith, B Lee, NM Hauritz, SR Clark, DE Bollinger, DA Warner, SM Katich

Diamond Eagles: AP McLaren, RR Rossouw, MN van Wyk†, HH Dippenaar*, D Elgar, RT Bailey, R McLaren, D du Preez, SC van Schalkwyk, T Tshabalala, PV Mpitsang

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