Victoria win fourth Big Bash title

The Victorian Bushrangers’ dominance of Twenty20 cricket was firmly established as they beat the Southern Redbacks by 48-runs in the KFC Big Bash finale on Saturday night.

After electing to bat, the Bushrangers were restricted to 166 for seven.

The very first ball from Dirk Nannes proved to be too good for the Redbacks. Nannes had captain Graham Manou trapped in front and the Victorians went up in joy, and there was more to follow.

He continued his first ball brilliance with a maiden over. The fast bowler finished the day with one for eight at an economy rate of 2.00 - the best ever in the KFC Big Bash.

The Victorians capitalised on the good start, with James Pattinson packing off Tom Cooper for two runs in the second over, From thereon, the Redbacks never recovered.

At three for two, when the Redbacks were living their worst nightmares, Pattinson returned to pick up Daniel Harris for six runs.

Mark Cosgrove (22) and Kieron Pollard tried to provide some entertainment to the crowd, who had gone quiet after a sloppy start from the Redbacks.

The duo put up a 64-run stand before Andrew McDonald tasted success with a brilliant delivery which sent Cosgrove’s wickets all over the place in the 13th over. Two deliveries later, Pollard was caught by stand-in captain David Hussey at the ropes.

Though Pollard had hit it hard, Hussey plucked a blinder. Pollard scored a brave 44 off 33 balls which made him the highest run-scorer of the Big Bash season at 190.
With Pollard’s departure, the Redbacks’ hopes of ending their 13 year trophy drought were also lost.

The next six batsmen managed to add 40 runs, restricting the Redbacks to 118 for nine. Pattinson and McDonald finished the day with a three wicket haul each.

Daniel Christian’s wicket in the 16th over took fast bowler John Hastings to number one spot in the most-wickets tally. He scalped 10 wickets from seven matches.

Earlier, Bushrangers’ opener Aaron Finch went for the leather, hitting 47 off 34 balls. He had a 47-run stand with Brad Hodge at the top, with most runs coming from Finch’s bat. Hodge tried to loft a delivery from Aaron O’Brien but the ball went straight to the bowler. He was caught for nine runs.

Finch began to rebuild a crucial stand with Rob Quiney, however, that did not last long, with the latter sent back for 12. Four overs later, in an attempt to clear the ropes, Finch was caught by Christian at long on.

A middle order debacle was caused partially by O’Brien who removed McDonald for 25 and Matthew Wade for 1.

But it was not over for the Bushrangers. Late fireworks were provided by Man-of-the-Match Aiden Blizzard. The explosive batsman hit 42 off jut 19 balls to take Bushrangers to a competitive total.

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Hodge hundred earns Victoria win

Brad Hodge scored his second century of the week at Adelaide Oval to drive Victoria to a comfortable five-wicket win over South Australia. After Cameron Borgas struck a career-best 90 and gave the Redbacks a defendable total, Hodge batted throughout the chase and finished unbeaten on 114 to add to the 195 he posted in the Sheffield Shield match.

South Australia didn't help themselves with three missed run-out opportunities against Hodge and his main supporter Andrew McDonald and the Bushrangers at one point threatened to gain the bonus point. Hodge and McDonald combined for a 125-run partnership that made victory a certainty after Shaun Tait gave the Redbacks hope with a couple of wickets.

Hodge, who turns 35 next month, has started the summer in peak form and scored at better than a run a ball, despite looking scratchy early in his innings. McDonald's 58 was fluent and it was a well-timed innings for him personally as the Australia ODI team in India consider flying in an extra player to cover for their injury problems.

The Victorians were on top since the early stages of the match after the stand-in captain David Hussey sent South Australia in on a good batting pitch. The Redbacks slipped to 3 for 46 in the 11th over and it was left to Borgas and Daniel Christian (45) to rebuild and give their bowlers something to defend.

Darren Pattinson was especially impressive with the ball and collected 3 for 34, finding some movement off the seam. The Bushrangers lost Damien Wright to a hamstring injury after he had bowled eight overs but it was the only negative in Victoria's opening match of the tournament, while South Australia have now slumped to three losses from three games.

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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.

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Victoria cruise past Daredevils

Victorian Bushrangers secured an easy seven-wicket victory against Delhi Daredevils after the home side put up a 99-run target for them.

After Amit Mishra disturbed Ron Quiney's timber, Tillakaratne Dilshan knocked off Brad Hodge's middle stump to account for the second wicket.

David Hussey could not contribute much and lost his wicket to Rajat Bhatia.

Earlier, Shane Harwood bowled a precise one to disturb Gautam Gambhir's timber and draw the first blood for Victoria. Daredevils had won the toss and opted to bat.

Virender Sehwag followed soon as Clint McKay took a brilliant catch off his own bowling to dismiss the star batsman.

Owais Shah was back to the pavillion even before putting any mark against his name, with McKay striking again.

Daredevils' wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik also could not stand for long and was run out.

Delhi side's Sri Lankan recruit, Tillakaratne Dilshan, was looking in good form till he lost his off-stump to McKay in an attempt to hit a big one.

Harwood then disturbed Mithun Manhas' timber to account for his second wicket.

Andrew McDonald claimed Rajat Bhatia and Pradeep Sangwan's wickets in the last over to warp up Daredevils' innings at a meagre 98/8.

Delhi Daredevils will seek to capitalise on the experience of legendary Australian paceman Glenn McGrath against Victoria.

Delhi have lost three overseas players - South African AB de Villers, England's Paul Collingwood and Daniel Vettori of New Zealand - in quick succession on the run-up to the cash-rich 12-team event.

McGrath, who replaced Collingwood, and Australian paceman Dirk Nannes could forge a lethal pair, which has the ability to inflict early blows and break the backbone of opponent line-ups.

In the absence of experienced Vettori, Indian leg-spinner Amit Mishra would be a key member of Delhi's bowling armoury, while Rajat Bhatia's medium pace may help Delhi get some breakthroughs.

Paceman Peter Siddle might be the man on whom skipper White would depend highly as the other Victoria bowlers lack the experience of often placid sub-continent pitch.

Delhi Daredevils: G Gambhir*, V Sehwag, TM Dilshan, KD Karthik†, OA Shah, M Manhas, R Bhatia, A Mishra, PJ Sangwan, DP Nannes, A Nehra

Victoria: BJ Hodge, RJ Quiney, AC Blizzard, DJ Hussey, CL White*, AB McDonald, MS Wade†, CJ McKay, SM Harwood, JM Holland, PM Siddle