By Sheriff Michaels
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| The Journey Ends for Auckland Aces after Sterling Show at CLT2012 |
CENTURION, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 23, 2012: Perth Scorchers registered their first victory at the Champions League Twenty20 2012 on Tuesday when they kicked Auckland Aces out of the competition with a 16-run victory at the SuperSport Park in Centurion.
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The Auckland Aces needed to win this match to stay alive in the competition and they might have got a great chance because the other match of the day between Delhi Daredevils and Nashua Titans was washed out after the toss.
Delhi Daredevils and Nahua Titans qualified into the Semi-Finals of the Champions League Twenty20 2012 from Group A while Sydney Sixers and Highveld Lions joined them from Group B.
First Semi-Final will be played between Delhi Daredevils and Highveld Lions on October 25 at Kingsmead in Durban while Sydney Sixers will take on Nashua Titans in the second Semi-Final scheduled for October 26 at SuperSport Park in Centurion.
Final of the Champions League Twenty20 2012 will be played on October 28 at Johannesburg.
Perth Scorchers skipper Marcus North won the toss and decided to bat first. Auckland Aces would also have loved to bat first to register a thumping victory over the BigBashLeague side but it wasn’t to be the case.
Perth Scorchers scored 140 runs for the loss of seven wickets from their 20 overs before Auckland Aces succumbed to a pressure of their own minds to manage only 124 for eight from their quota of 20 overs, thus falling 16 runs short of the target.
Former South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs (6 from 6 – 1 four) continued to prove a failure on his home ground but skipper Marcus North (37 from 35 – 4 fours, 1 six) and Simon Katich (21 from 23 – 2 fours) undid the early loss with 55 runs partnership for second wicket.
Both batsmen went back in a quick succession but former England captain Paul Collingwood (38 from 27 – 5 fours) and Tom Beaton (22 from 19 – 1 four, 1 six) upped the tempo during second half of the innings and despite of a late collapse the Perth Scorchers managed to score a fighting 140 runs total on the board.
Michael Bates was the standout performer for the Auckland Aces with the ball as he captured four wickets for 34 runs while Kyle Mills was also useful during his miser spell of none for 14 from four overs. Azhar Mahmood also bowled well during his spell of none for 24 from four while Bruce Martin (4-0-25-0) also kept a lid on scoring rate.
Chasing 141 for victory and a possible qualification, the Auckland Aces got off to a worst start by losing hard-hitting Lou Vincent for only two runs.
However, Martin Guptill (36 from 32 – 3 fours, 1 six) and Pakistani all-rounder Azhar Mahmood (23 from 21 – 4 fours) resurrected the innings as they slowly picked up the pace to add 49 valuable runs for the second wicket before Guptill lost his mind to gift his wicket away to Michael Beer with wicketkeeper Ronchi taking a useful catch.
Anaru Kitchen (6 from 6 – 1 four) soon departed and when Azhar Mahmood lost his cool and wicket the Auckland Aces were completely rattled as they lacked someone who could steer the innings to an unlikely looking victory.
Colin Munro (23 from 18 – 1 four, 1 six) did his best to rescue the wrecked ship but lacked support from the other end as Colin de Grandhomme (4 from 4), skipper Gareth Hopkins (9 from 12 – 1 four), and Ronnie Hira (2 from 3) all lost their wickets in a bid to up the scoring rate.
In the end, the Auckland Aces could score 124 for eight and were knocked out of the competition.
Michael Beer, who took three wickets for 13 runs from his four overs, was declared Man of the Match while Joe Mennie (4-0-23-2), Nathan Coulter-Nile (4-0-26-0), Ryan Duffield (3-0-17-1), and Brad Hogg (4-0-30-1) all bowled exceedingly well to defend a lower total successfully.
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