By Sheriff Michaels
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 9, 2012: English domestic Twenty20 runners-up Yorkshire County Cricket Club started their Champions League Twenty20 (CLT20) campaign in a thumping fashion on Tuesday when they defeated Sri Lankan Premier League champions Uva Next by five wickets at The New Wanderers in Johannesburg.
The victory was mainly attributed to unraveling David Miller and hard-hitting Adil Rashid who never lost their minds when the chips were down after a killing bouncer by Umar Gul hit Miller on his nose and was made to leave the field.
Yorkshire won the toss and skipper Andrew Gale invited Uva Next to bat first on a pitch which had a touch of grass on top of it.
Uva Next scored 150 for seven from their 20 overs after a gutsy unbeaten knock of 29 from 22 balls by skipper Thilian Kandamby saved the day for the Sri Lankan Premier League champions after a small collapse in the middle order threatened their competitiveness a great deal.
Dilshan Munaweera (22 from 19 – 3 fours, 1 six) and Bhanuka Rajapaksa (24 from 21 – 2 fours, 1 six) got the Uva Next off to a useful start piling up 42 runs from 32 balls.
West Indian veteran batsman Shivnarine Chanderpaul (27 from 23 – 3 fours) and Aussie AB McDonald (17 from 16 – 1 four, 1 six) put their international experience to work but as soon as they left the crease, it all looked gloomy for the Uva Next as Jacob Oram (8 from 5 – 1 four) failed to meet expectations.
Thilina Kandamby (29 from 22 – 2 fours, 1 six) kept end in-tact and helped his side to a fighting total of 150 for seven with a late flurry of boundaries.
Steven Patterson (4-0-30-2) and Moin Ashraf (4-0-29-2) bagged two wickets each while Azeem Rafiq (4-0-25-1) and Adil Rashid (3-0-25-1) also bowled well for the England county side.
Yorkshire commenced in a comfortable manner and looked in control of proceedings right from the start as skipper Andrew Gale (13 from 9 – 2 fours) and Phil Jaques (32 from 21 – 5 fours) took them to 15 before Senanayake got the skipper stumped in second over.
Joe Root (11 from 6 – 1 four, 1 six) also couldn’t survive for a longer period of time but David Miller (39 not out from 29 – 4 fours, 1 six) joined hands with Phil Jaques and took the total to 66 in the eighth over before Dilshan Munaweera rocked the run-chase with a double blow.
Munaweera first got rid of Phil Jaques and then found an inside edge by Gary Ballance crashing on to the stumps in the same over as Yorkshire looked in some sort of trouble at four down for 66 in the eighth over, still needing 85 runs from 74 balls.
Pakistani fast bowler Umar Gul then inflicted more misery on the Yorkshire when one of his rising deliveries went past the helmet’s grill and struck David Miller on his face around nose area which made him to retire hurt leaving Yorkshire at 91 for four from 12.2 overs.
However, all-rounder Adil Rashid (36 not out from 30 balls – 2 fours, 1 six) took the responsibility and steered the innings towards the target in absence of his senior batsman and added 42 crucial runs with Dan Hodgson (18 from 21 – 1 four).
David Miller kept icing his injury in the dug-out but as soon as Dan Hodgson got out he made his way back into the middle and smashed Umar Gul and other bowlers to seal the deal for the Yorkshire from third ball of the final over.
Dilshan Munaweera was the most successful bowler for the Sri Lanka domestic Twenty20 champions as he grabbed three wickets for 32 runs while AB McDonald also bowled well for figures of 0/23. Umar Gul also remained wicketless for 24 from 3.3 overs.
Adil Rashid was declared Man of the Match for his superb all-round contribution of 1/25 and 36 not out.
