Wayamba 118 for 9 (Vandort 42, Kulatunga 41, Harwood 3-14) beat Victoria 103 for 4 (Hodge 44*) by 15 runs
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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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.
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
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were out
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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.
For the major duration of the chase, while Riley Rossouw was compiling his attacking half-century, the Eagles were favourites. However after the 13th over, when they needed 42 off 42 balls with nine wickets in hand, Morne van Wyk holed out to long-off and Sussex fielders perhaps sensed the beginning of a choke. The equation climbed to more than a run a ball as the slow bowlers consistently found the blockhole and the fielding lifted. In three overs since van Wyk's dismissal, Eagles managed only 16 and lost Boeta Dippenaar. The pressure started to build on Rossouw and, when on 65, he top edged a heave off Hamilton-Brown and was caught, leaving Eagles 14 to get off eight balls.
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.
It didn't work consistently though. Wright, making his first appearance in the tournament, bashed two sixes but swished at de Villiers and lost his off stump. de Villiers then took an exceptional reflex catch off his own bowling to get rid of Hamilton-Brown. With van Wyk standing up to the stumps, Sussex found it difficult to hit with confidence and at one stage there was a 32-ball boundary drought. However, Sussex lifted again and reached 119, which turned out to be one run too little to make it through from Group B.
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