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Gary Ballance struck half-century as Yorkshire crawled to 140 for six against Chennai Super Kings in their Champions League T20 (CLT20) 2012 match at Durban on Monday.
 
Put in to bat first, Yorkshire made a slow start and lost their way in between, after which Miller and Ballance revived their innings.
 
The first wicket partnership between Andrew Gale and Adam Lyth garnered 36 runs, before Albie Morkel removed the Yorkshire skipper for 23 in the sixth over.
 
Gale’s knock of 23 included two sixes and a boundary, from 22 balls.
 
Ben Hilfenhaus struck in the very next over to dismiss Lyth, who was caughy by Murali Vijay for 11.
 
The English County side slipped further when Joe Root fell to Morkel, which left Yorkshire struggling at 43 for three.
 
Ballance and Miller then joined forces to take Yorkshire ahead, adding 78 runs for the fourth wicket.
 

• Brief Scores: yorkshire 140 for 6 in 20 overs (Gary Ballance 58, David Miller 28, Andrew Gale 23; Albie Morkel 2 for 12, Doug Bollinger 2 for 16) vs Chennai Super Kings.

 

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Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Gautam Gambhir admitted that it was indeed "very disappointing" not to have qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20..

"It is very disappointing not to have qualified for the semi-finals but this is not the end of the world. We will definitely come back stronger in the next edition of Indian Premier League," Gambhir said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The skipper was however happy that his team produced a solid performance to defeat the Nashua Titans.

"I still feel we are a quality side, we put this performance on the field today. When you get 180 in these conditions, you know you have the bowling to defend."

The skipper was all praise for Manvinder Bisla who started the onslaught and Debabrata Das who finished it with a flourish.

"Credit to Das for the way finished the innings while Bisla batted brilliantly at the top of the order."

Bengal boy Debabrata who won the man-of-the-match award said, "I was just told to go out there and play my game. My game is to see the ball and hit it."

Titans skipper Martin van Jaarsveld said that once KKR scored 188 for five, it was always going to be a catch-up game.

"The moment they got first four through inside edge, we knew that it wasn't our day. They were like a runaway train today. We have a big match against Delhi on Tuesday, and we need to be up for it," he lamented. (PTI)
 

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Champions League T20 2012: Lions beat CSK by six wickets

Cape Town: Highveld Lions beat Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in the Champions League Twenty20 here on Tuesday.
AS IT HAPPENED»

Chennai made a sensational start in their defence of 158 with Bollinger removing Lions captain Alviro PetersEn with the first ball of the innings in an LBW decision.
Two overs later, Bollinger induced an edge to Quinton de Kock (5) for Dhoni to take an easy catch behind the wicket.
The two early wickets pegged the Lions back and they were just 18 for two after the fifth over and 59 for two at the halfway stage.

But Bodi and McKenzie steadied the run chase after the initial jolt and then took their side to a position from where they could launch for a win.

Bodi was the dominant partner as he played most of the shots, including the two sixes off Albie Morkel in the ninth over. He reached his half century in 38 balls with a six off Faf du Plessis in the 12th over which yielded 14 runs.

Bodi was not afraid of taking on a quality spinner like Ravichandran Ashwin as he smashed a four and a six in the 13th over as the Lions had to come up with some big overs in view of the soaring asking rate.

Dhoni brought back Morkel, who was hit for two sixes in the ninth over by Bodi, and the change in bowling did the trick as the fast bowler gave the much-needed breakthrough.

Morkel removed Bodi with an angled delivery which the batsman wanted to hoist but it took the edge of his bat for Dhoni to complete an easy catch behind the wickets.

Bodi faced 46 balls for his 64 which he made with the help of five fours and four sixes. His dismissal ended the 93-run stand from 9.5 overs for the third wicket with Neil McKenzie.

Lions needed 51 runs from the last five overs and nine from the last over. Jean Symes, who remained not out on 39, hit two fours to end the match in style.


Earlier, Dhoni top-scored with a 26-ball 34 as Chennai Super Kings posted a challenging 158 for six.

Dhoni, who promoted himself to number four, hit two fours and as many sixes in his knock after coming at the halfway stage of the innings after his side was sent into bat at the Newlands in the Group B match.

Chennai lost wickets at regular intervals and looked like they would settle below 150 but the 50-run stand from 4.2 overs between Dhoni and S Badrinath (27 not out) for the sixth wicket saw them go past that mark.

The last two overs yielded 27 runs, with the penultimate bowled by Dirk Nannes, producing 19 and that saw Chennai reach a challenging total.

Badrinath was the second highest scorer while all the other batsmen, except for Albie Morkel (4), contributed in the 20s.

For the Lions, Aaron Phangiso grabbed two wickets for 17 runs from his quota of four overs while Sohail Tanveer, Nannes, Chris Morris and Zander de Bruyn took a wicket each.

The Chennai openers Faf du Plessis (25) and Murali Vijay (22) began on a confident note with the former launching Nannes for a huge six in the second over and then gave the treatment to Tanveer with three fours from the next over.

Vijay, who played second fiddle so far, then struck an effortless six off Nannes to take Chennai score to 43 for no loss at the end of fifth over.

The breakthrough for the Lions was provided by Morris with Phangiso taking a stunning catch to get rid of du Plessis who consumed 20 balls for his 25.

Phangiso, who had dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in Lions` previous match, ran back from the point region, dived full-length and pouched the ball before thudding himself into the ground.

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Champions League T20 2012: Sydney Sixers crush Yorkshire by 8 wickets

Cape Town: In-form Sydney Sixers produced a clinical all-round performance and romped to a crushing eight-wicket win over Yorkshire in their Champions League Twenty20 match here on Tuesday.

Sixers chased down the paltry target of 97 with 67 deliveries to spare after Yorkshire opted to bat at the Newlands.

The English outfit was earlier restricted to 96 for nine in their allotted 20 overs.

This was Sixers' second win of the tournament, the first was against the IPL outfit Chennai Super Kings on Sunday.

Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc was the star of the day as he returned impressive figures of three for 22 on a pitch where there was no major demons, making the batsmen's job much easier even before the chase had begun.

In pursuit of a small total, opener Michael Lumb led the way with a quickfire 24-ball 43. His knock was studded with eight fours and he was there in the middle when the winning runs were scored.

Skipper Brad Haddin chipped in with a 41-run knock, which came off just 21 balls, and was laced with eight hits to the fence.

It was always going to be a herculean task for Yorkshire after their batsmen were done in by the Aussie pacers, with Starc leading the way.

Playing probably in his last match after Cricket Australia decided to pull him out of the tournament in view of the upcoming Test series against world number one South Africa, Shane Watson picked up two for 27 from his four overs.

The figures were even better for Pat Cummins as the young pacer was measly in his four-over spell in which he conceded just 13 runs while claiming two wickets.

However, it was Josh Hazlewood who dealt the first blow on Yorkshire when he bowled Andrew Gale in the sixth over.

Last match's hero Moises Henriques chipped in with the wicket of Joe Root, before the trio of Starc, Cummins and Watson took over.

Yorkshire needed to bowl out of their skins to defend such a small total, and even needed Sydney to have a poor day with the bat. But that was not to be as the Australians cruised past the target in just 8.5 overs.

Big Bash champions, Sydney Sixers defeated IPL runner-ups Chennai Super Kings to make a resounding start in the event, while it was Yorkshire's first game in the main round of the tournament after having beaten Uva Next and Trinidad & Tobago in the qualifiers.

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KEVIN PETRSON RETURN IN NATIONAL TEAM SAID BROAD

No problems with the return of Kevin Pietersen: Broad

England pacer and T20 captain Stuart Broad has said that he has no problems with Kevin Pietersen’s return to the national team. Broad said that the return of the controversial batsman was the sole prerogative of the management and the ECB.

"The team has no issues with KP coming back whenever the management decides he is ready to. I`d have no problems playing with him," Broad told reporters.

"Once the England management has decided when he`s available to return, he`ll be welcomed back into the changing room.

"I`m sure that if he came back for India or New Zealand, or whenever it is, that things will be fine within the team," the pacer added.

The controversial batsman had been left out of the England squad after he sent derogatory text messages to members of the touring South African team during the Headingley Test. He participated in a series of private discussions with the team management including the coach Andy Flower, former captain Andrew Strauss and Test Captain Alistair Cook.

The flamboyant batsman who had missed out on a central contract in September has recently signed a four month contract with the ECB after he publicly apologized for his conduct. The middle order batsman is expected to be selected for the tour to India next month.

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