CLT20: Titans maul Perth Scorchers by 39 runs

By Sheriff Michaels

Jacques Rudolph leads Titans with unbeaten 83 runs to win over Scorchers

CENTURION, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 13, 2012: South African Titans started their Champions League Twenty20 title quest in an impressive fashion on Saturday when they outplayed Australian Perth Scorchers by 39 runs in their Group A match played at SuperSportsPark in Centurion.

 

The victory was attributed mainly to two match-winning performances by the local team where left-hand opening batsman Jacques Rudolph hit unbeaten 83 runs while right-arm medium fast bowler Cornelius de Villiers grabbed three wickets for only 16 runs to keep Perth Scorchers at bay.

Batting first, Titans scored 163 for the loss of four wickets from their 20 overs and then restricted the Perth Scorchers to 124 for seven.

Apart from Jacques Rudolph (83 not out from 59 – 9 fours, 3 sixes), his opening partner Henry Davids (54 from 38 – 4 fours, 4 sixes) also batted well to lift the home side to a formidable total.

Alfonso Thomas

Nathan Rimmington captured two wickets for 20 runs for the Perth Scorchers while Michael Beer (1/29) and Joe Mennie (1/29) also bowled well but Mitchell Marsh (2-0-26-0) and Ben Edmondson (2-0-32-0) went for too many collectively giving away 58 runs from their four overs.

Former South African opening batsman Herschelle Gibbs (19 from 19 – 1 six) looked good before giving away his wicket to Alfonso Thomas while Shaun Marsh (7 from 9 – 1 four) and skipper Marcus North (Duck) failed to force the issue.

Simon Katich (23 from 28 – 1 four) and Mitchell Marsh (52 not out from 41 – 5 fours, 1 six) tried to resurrect the innings but once Katich was caught-and-bowled by Links, the Perth Scorchers had nothing to fight with.

Cornelius de Villiers was declared Man of the Match for his brilliant spell of medium-paced bowling.

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Yorkshire beat Uva Next by 5wkts in CLT20 opener

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.

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CLT20: Stallions face Auckland, UVA brave Yorkshire today

By Sheriff Michaels

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 9, 2012: The cash-rich Champions League Twenty20 2012 is swinging into action at the New Wanderers in Johannesburg on Tuesday (today) with Pakistan’s Sialkot Stallions, England’s Yorkshire, Sri Lanka’s UVA Next and New Zealand’s Auckland commencing the qualifying round.

This is the first time any Pakistani domestic Twenty20 side is taking part in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament while it may be the last time that the cricket fans would see English county sides participate in the lucrative tournament after England and Wales Cricket Board announced recently that it would want its county sides to focus more on the local tournaments.

The three-day qualifying round will see six teams fighting for two berths in the final round of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament where a tough competition is likely to be witnessed amid calls of Twenty20 cricket overkill as the first match will be played in less than 48 hours after the ICC World Twenty20 2012 Final.

In the final round of the tournament, a total of 10 teams will battle it out for the Twenty20 riches where apart from the two qualifiers, four Indian Premier League, two Big Bash, and two South African domestic teams will light up the Twenty20 action.

In the first match, Sri Lankan domestic champions Uva Next will face off against English domestic runner-ups Yorkshire County Cricket Club at the New Wanderers in the picturesque Johannesburg where an early morning drizzle made it a perfect day for a tournament launch and of course cricket. West Indies’ Trinidad & Tobago is the third team in their group.

In the second match scheduled for evening, Pakistan’s domestic Twenty20 champions Sialkot Stallions will make Champions League Twenty20 debut against New Zealand’s Auckland side. England’s domestic Twenty20 champions Hampshire are the third side in this group.

Uva Next squad includes Thilian Kandamby (Skipper), Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sameera de Zoysa, Fawad Alam, Dilhara Fernando, Charith Jayampathi, Chinthaka Jayasinghe, AB McDonald, Dilshan Munaweera, Jacob Oram, Seekkuge Prasanna, Ashan Priyanjan, Bhanuka Rajapaksa, Sachithra Senanayake, and Umar Gul.

Yorkshire squad includes Andrew Gale (Skipper), Moin Ashraf, Azeem Rafiq, Gary Balance, Oliver Hannon-Dalby, Dan Hodgson, Phil Jacques, Adam Lyth, David Miller, Steven Patterson, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Ryan Sidebottom, Iain Wardlaw, and Eddie Wilson.

Sialkot Stallions squad includes Shoaib Malik (Skipper) Abdur Rehman, Ali Khan, Bilawal Bhatti, Faisal Naved, Haris Sohail, Raza Hasan, Imran Nazir, Mohammad Ayub, Rana Naved ul Hasan, Qaiser Abbas, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shahid Yousuf, Shakeel Ansar (WK), and Umaid Asif.

Auckland squad includes Gareth Hopkins (Skipper), Andre Adams, Azhar Mahmood, Michael Bates, Bradley Cachopa, Colin de Grandhomme, Martin Guptill, Ronnie Hira, Anaru Kitchen, Mitchell McClenaghan, Bruce Martin, Chris Martin, Kyle Mills, Colin Munro, and Lou Vincent.

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Champions League Twenty20 opening celebrations on 12th

By Media Release

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (TheSportsNEXT) October 6, 2012: In celebration of the Karbonn Smart Champions League T20 returning to South Africa, a free concert is being held at Melrose Arch Piazza next Friday 12th October 2012 at 7pm.

 

Featuring local bands, Flash Republic and Mi Casa, the concert also welcomes the return of International Mash-up Artist, DJ Earworm.

“The whole spirit of this competition is the ‘mashing up’ of the best domestic cricket teams from around the world,” says Naasei Appiah, Tournament Director, Karbonn Smart Champions League T20. “So we thought what better way to symbolise this, than by having an opening celebration with the best in South African music, with the King of the Mash-up genre.”

“We have also selected some high-profile South Africans who will act as ambassadors for each of the ten teams. These ambassadors will meet their team captains as part of the celebrations and become honorary team members for the duration of the tournament.”

Tickets for this exclusive event are not available for sale. They are, however available via the online platforms of the bands performing on the night, as well as through other channels that will be revealed over the course of the week.

For more information on how to win tickets to this once-in-a-lifetime concert, please log on to www.clt20.com or follow @clt20 on twitter and trend #KlapIt or like facebook.com/CLTwenty20 for regular updates.

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