Otago Volts opened their Champions League t20 campaign with a convincing 8 wicket victory over Faisalabad Wolves with 13 balls to spare. The second game was equally one-sided as Sunrisers Hyderabad triumphed over Kandurata Maroons.
Otago Volts skipper Brendon McCullum notched a man-of-the-match unbeaten 83 from 65 deliveries including 9 fours and 2 sixes. McCullum, who will want to celebrate his 32nd birthday in ten day’s time playing in the main CLt20 draw, shared an unbroken third wicket partnership of 101 in 75 balls with Derek de Boorder (30*). Earlier Neil Broom had departed second ball and Hamish Rutherford fell for 25, including 3 sixes, to reduce the Kiwis to 41-2 after 5.2 overs.
The Qualifiers had initially been scheduled for Hyderabad but moved due to security threats and McCullum is pleased his side are enjoying the Mohali pitch. “The wicket certainly had some pace and bounce and is probably more accustomed to a New Zealand or Australian wicket than a sub-continent wicket, so that obviously helped our guys,” he said.
“To have beaten this Faisalabad side is an excellent effort as they have some world class players in their ranks.
“It’s great to get a result. Last time we played in the CLt20 we weren’t that far away. We played some good cricket, but weren’t quite able to stand up in some of the key moments.
“But we’ve learned from that and we’ve prepared incredibly well before we arrived here.
“Hopefully we can continue the way we played today in the next couple of games because we’ve given ourselves a good opportunity,” he concluded.
The average score in Mohali is 168 and Misbah Ul Haq admitted later that his team were about 25 or 30 runs short of being competitive. That Faisalabad Wolves reached 139-8 relied heavily on skipper Misbah’s 46 from 34 balls. The 39-year-old top scored in the Pakistan side’s domestic competition and rescued pride after early wickets had reduced his side to 45 for 3 at the halfway stage.
The Otaga Volts look an impressive unit. Their fielding was sharp and Ian Buttler (2 for 23), James McMillan (2 for 24), Neil Wagner (1 for 25) and James Neesham (2 for 26 on his 23rd birthday) found help from the Mohali pitch in their respective four overs.
The Volts won ten games on the bounce after an opening defeat to lift their domestic crown and on today’s evidence are not to be underestimated.
Meanwhile, in the day’s second match Kumar Sangakarra with 61 not out from 46 balls was unable to get one over on his Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sangakarra shared an 89-run third wicket partnership with Lahiru Thirimanne (54 from 39) to see Kandurata Maroons to 168-3.
The Sunrisers made easy work of the chase thanks to an opening stand of 121 between their captain Shikhar Dhawan (71 from 53 balls) and Parthiv Patel (52 from 42). Although the pair both fell within nine balls Thisara Perera smashed 4 fours and 2 sixes in his 11-ball 32 as the Indian team won by 8 wickets with 9 balls to spare.
With the Sunrisers and Volts swapping opponents for Qualifier day two on Wednesday a second win will seal their places in the competitions main draw.
You can follow both games as Otago Volts take on the Kandurata Maroons and Hyderabad Sunrisers play Faisalabad Wolves on our Twitter feed @cricket_badger from 10.30am UK time.
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James Buttler
As the editor of Cricket Badger he is intent on building the website to give quality coverage of the domestic game around the world.
James was the full-time Media Manager at Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 2007 and 2010.
James is a published author and a writer/video contributor to many cricket publications.
He's unsurprisingly a complete cricket badger!
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