HYDERABAD, India, CMC – Trinidad and Tobago’s sensational giant-killing run ended in yesterday’s Champions League Twenty20 final when New South Wales used a blistering performance by Brett Lee to flog them by 41 runs for the title.
The Australian champions compiled 159 for nine off 20 overs after being sent to bat and then ripped out T&T for 118 in 15.5 overs at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, ending the Caribbean T20 champions’ incredible five-game winning streak at the US$6 million tournament.
NSW collected a whopping winning prize of US$2.5 million and T&T earned US$1.3 million as runners-up.
“It was a good run for us and all credit to NSW. We cracked under pressure. A lot of people are disappointed but that is how it goes,” T&T’s captain Daren Ganga said after the game.
Pacer Ravi Rampaul was the standout bowler for T&T against the NSW Blues, who were anxious to avenge their stinging Super 8 loss to T&T last week.
Rampaul snared three for 20 off four overs and medium pacer Dwayne Bravo picked up two for 27 off three overs.
Lee ignited NSW’s struggling innings with terrific knock of 48 off 31 balls.
Batting at No.8, the fast bowler thumped five sixes and one four and decisively injected life into his side’s innings.
Steve Smith lashed 33 off 26 balls to give NSW a considerable boost.
T&T’s run chase began badly against new-ball bowlers Lee and Smith as they lost William Perkins for a “duck”, Adrian Barath (14) and Lendl Simmons (4) to be 21 for three in the third over.
After captain Daren Ganga (19), Bravo (17) and Denesh Ramdin (16) failed to carry on from starts, big-hitting Kieron Pollard belted 26 off 15 balls to give the Caribbean warriors a glimmer of hope, but when he fell at 113 for eight in the 15th over, T&T’s hopes faded with his departure.
Pollard won the award for most sixes in the tournament, achieving the maximum 16 times in the six matches he played.
Man of the match and series Lee finished with tidy figures of two for 10 off two overs, while Stuart Clark gabbed three for 21 off 3.5 overs.
Spinner Nathan Hauritz (2-23) and Smith (2-32) shared four wickets to complete the win.
Coming to the tournament as underdogs, T&T won the hearts of the Indian fans after pounding reigning Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Deccan Chargers and England’s Somerset in the Group A, before marching past NSW and the Eagles (South Africa) in the Super 8 phase.
They reached the final by whipping South Africa’s Cape Cobras in the semi-final and although Ganga was disappointed with their defeat in the championship decider, he was able to conjure up some positive words in the post-match presentation.
“A lot of people back home are proud of us. Thanks to the Indian fans for supporting us. We have memories of the support and the fans and this will make a huge difference to the guys, and will inspire many players back in the Caribbean,” he said.
Winning captain Simon Katich praised Lee and Smith for their telling all-round performance in a strong team effort.
“Brett Lee and Steven Smith were great with the bat and then everyone chipped in. We created opportunities and the guys fielded brilliantly,” he said.
“The opportunity to play on the world stage has been fantastic. It’s been invaluable for the young guys,” Katich added.
SCOREBOARD
NEW SOUTH WALES Innings
D Warner c Mohammed b Bravo 19
P Hughes b Rampaul 3
*S Katich c Barath b Bravo 16
M Henriques c S Ganga b Pollard 4
B Rohrer c S Ganga b Mohammed 16
S Smith c Simmons b S Ganga 33
+D Smith b Rampaul 3
B Lee c Perkins b Rampaul 48
N Hauritz run out (wkp Ramdin/Rampaul) 10
S Clark not out 0
Extras (lb5, w2) 7
TOTAL (9 wickets – 20 overs) 159
Did not bat: D Bollinger
Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Hughes, 3.1 overs), 2-32 (Warner, 4.3), 3-45 (Katich, 6.5), 4-47 (Henriques, 7.2), 5-75 (Rohrer, 10.1), 6-83 (D Smith, 11.2), 7-132 (S Smith, 17.3), 8-159 (Hauritz, 19.5), 9-159 (Lee, 19.6)
Bowling: Ganga 4-0-29-1 (1w); Rampaul 4-0-20-3; Bravo 3-0-27-2 (1w); Pollard 3-0-27-1; Mohammed 3-0-19-1; Simmons 2-0-23-0; Stewart 1-0-9-0.
TRINIDAD & TOBAGO Innings
W Perkins b Lee 0
A Barath c wkp D Smith b S Smith 14
L Simmons c&b Lee 4
*D Ganga c Warner b S Smith 19
D Bravo b Bollinger 17
+D Ramdin c S Smith b Clark 16
K Pollard c Lee b Hauritz 26
S Ganga c Henriques b Hauritz 5
N Stewart c Henriques b Clark 4
D Mohammed c Hughes b Clark 1
R Rampaul not out 0
Extras (lb5, w4, nb3) 12
TOTAL (all out – 15.5 overs) 118
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Perkins, 0.2 overs), 2-21 (Barath, 1.6), 3-21 (Simmons, 2.2), 4-45 (Bravo, 5.3), 5-68 (D Ganga, 9.6), 6-93 (Ramdin, 13.1), 7-107 (S Ganga, 14.4), 8-113 (Pollard, 14.6), 9-118 (Stewart, 15.4), 10-118 (Mohammed, 15.5)
Bowling: Lee 2-0-10-2 (1nb, 1w); S Smith 4-0-32-2 (1w); Bollinger 4-0-27-1 (1nb, 2w); Clark 3.5-0-21-3; Hauritz 2-0-23-2 (1nb)
Result: NSW win by 41 runs
Man-of-the-Match: Brett Lee (NSW)
Player-of-the-series: Brett Lee (NSW)
Toss: T&T
Umpires: D Harper, R Koertzen
TV umpire: A Saheba
Match Referee: S Venkataraghavan
