From defending Champions League T20 champions to out without qualifying in the next!
Lee was missed by NSW Blues and crashed out
It was almost inconceivable at the start of the tournament. But, unless Lalit Modi comes up with a wildcard concept for the defending champions of the Champions League T20 tournament, they will not be participating in the second edition of the tournament, having already bowed out of KFC Big Bash T20 with only two points in four games out of a possible five matches.
The NSW Blues campaign had begun on a positive note and was almost akin to their performance in the Champions League T20, when they crushed Tasmania by 31 runs in the first game. The win was built around a similar batting prowess of their two openers in Phil Hughes and Dave Warner – both of whom smashed quick-fire half centuries – and captain Moises Henriques’ knock of 37 in the end.
The Tasmanian reply had begun well, what with 44 added for the first wicket off only 20 balls. However, once the first wicket fell, the rest of them capitulated to almost next to nothing to hand the Blues a winning start to their competition.
And it was not as if they were in a lot of trouble in their second game either. The Blues had batted first again against Victorian Bushrangers, and piled up another 178, but against the previous Champions League T20 qualifiers, the target fell short. Victoria had Brad Hodge, Matthew Wade and David Hussey gelling well to guide the Bushrangers to a narrow win with two balls to spare.
It was only in their third game that their wheels began to come apart, as the Western Australian Warriors absolutely bagged them with an imposing score of 198/1 in the 20 overs. This was built around the first century of the tournament by Shaun Marsh and his first wicket stand of 168 with Wes Robinson. Almost playing like they had given up even before the chase had begun, the Blues saw only two of their players getting into double figures and capitulating to 71 all out!
At the start of the Blues’ fourth game, South Australia were leading the points table with eight points from four games, who were followed by Victoria and Western Australia with four from four, while Tasmania had two from four. Both, New South Wales Blues and Queensland had two points from three games, and it was evident that this match between NSW and Queensland was a virtual quarter-final. The side winning the game would go up to four from four matches and tie with Victoria and WA for the second spot, whereas the losing team would be out of the tournament.
As it turned out, the game was reduced to a nine-over a side match due to rain and inclement weather. The Queensland innings began with an early wicket of James Hopes, but Andrew Symonds spanked a 38 off only 21 balls and combined well with Chris Simpson who took the game away with 14-ball 34. In the nine overs, Queensland had got to 110.
Any hopes that NSW would be able to make a match out of it evaporated in the first eight balls of the game, when they lost Phil Hughes, Dave Warner and overseas recruit Dwayne Smith all in the space of those many deliveries! Daniel Vettori then celebrated his first game in the Big Bash with a two over spell that cost only seven runs and that effectively broke the back for the Blues; 56/7 in nine overs.
Incidentally, this last game was watched by almost 30,000 fans, which was a record for domestic T20 cricket in Australia.
Victoria and Queensland then won their respective final games to get through to the Preliminary Finals, whereas South Australia is already through to the final and will face the winner of the Bushrangers and Queensland. South Australia, which has the likes of Shahid Afridi, Kieron Pollard and Shaun Tait in their side have already qualified for the Champions League T20.
