Delhi Daredevils beat Perth Scorchers by three wickets in the Group A Match

2012 Champions League Twenty20 in South Africa

Group A, Perth Scorchers Vs Delhi Daredevils,

Newlands, Cape Town,

South Africa.

October 21, 2012

Scorecard:

Delhi Daredevils won the toss and elected to field first

Perth Scorchers 121/5 (20 overs)

Shaun Marsh      39

Simon Katich      34

Mitchell Marsh    20

Morne Morkel      3-19

Ajit Agarkar         2-14

Delhi Daredevils need 122 runs from 20 overs

Delhi Daredevils 123/7 (19.3 overs)

Virender Sehwag      52

Irfan Pathan            13

Ajit Agarkar             11*

Michael Beer      2-18

Joe Mennie        2-21

Delhi Daredevils won by 3 wickets

Man of the Match - Ajit Agarkar

Irfan Pathan blitz helps Delhi beat Kolkata

Kolkata: Irfan Pathan's batting blitz got Delhi Daredevils off to a winning start in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Virender Sehwag's team beat Kolkata Knight Riders by eight wickets in a rain-curtailed game here at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.

The match was reduced to a 12-over affair after two-and-a-half hours of play was lost due to wet conditions following a spell of rain. However, the capacity crowd didn't go home disappointed and was treated with a close contest in the end as Delhi scored the winning runs in the last over of their chase

Chasing 98 to win, Sehwag (20) and Aaron Finch (30) raced to a 49-run start, laying a solid foundation for Pathan (42 not out off 20 balls) and Glenn Maxwell (3 not out) to score the remaining runs after the openers left in quick succession. Pathan hit three sixes and two fours in his match-winning knock.

After electing to bowl first, Delhi bowlers Morne Morkel (3 for 18), Umesh Yadav (2 for 9) and Roelof van der Merwe (2 for 28) didn't disappoint their skipper as the visitors restricted the hosts to 97 for 9. Allrounder Laxmi Ratan Shukla (26 off 17 balls) was the top-scorer for Kolkata.

Earlier, Morkel rocked Kolkata's top order with back-to-back wickets. He first bowled Jacques Kallis (4) and Manoj Tiwary (0) in successive deliveries and then followed it up with the wicket of Kolkata's skipper Gautam Gambhir, who played a short ball by the tall South African pacer onto his stumps. And the home side was in a real spot of bother when Yusuf Pathan was caught behind off Yadav.

But young Bengal batsman Debabrata Das (18) took the attack to the opposition with two lusty sixes, though his innings was cut short when he got run out after a terrible mix-up with Rajat Bhatia. A Shukla cameo late in the innings took Kolkata to a decent total; however, it was not enough in the end.

In reply, Delhi raced to 48 for no loss in six overs, with Finch and Sehwag swatting the ball hard. But the wickets of Finch, who was clean-bowled by Kallis, and Sehwag, who was caught brilliantly at the long-on fence by Iqbal Abdulla off Bhatia, in quick succession put the match in balance until Pathan's blitz blew away the opposition.

NZ draw third Test, but SA win series

Wellington: Morne Morkel took 6 for 23 and Kane Williamson made an unbeaten 102 in an almost one-on-one contest that ended in stalemate as South Africa and New Zealand drew the third Test on Tuesday.

Promoted from his usual role as third seamer to take the new ball, Morkel took all six New Zealand wickets to fall on the final day after South Africa's declaration at 189 for 3 set the home side 389 to win the match and take the series 1-0.

Williamson marshaled critical pockets of resistance — partnerships of 51 with Dean Brownlie (15), 80 with Kruger van Wyk (39) and an unbroken 37 with Doug Bracewell (20 not out) — to lead New Zealand to 200 for 6 as it survived 81 overs to save the match.

South Africa took a 1-0 lead in the three-match series into the match at the Basin Reserve after winning the second Test at Hamilton by nine wickets. The first Test at Dunedin was drawn.

Morkel bowled South Africa into a position on Tuesday from which they should have completed a 2-0 series win. He took his first five wickets for 11 runs to leave New Zealand 83 for 5 with most of its specialist batsmen back in the pavilion.

New Zealand's position was even more tenuous as its captain and best batsman Ross Taylor was unable to take part in the second innings because of a broken arm. But he was in the dressing room at the end of play to join in the celebration of a meritorious draw with the world's best team.

Morkel was impeded by a slight back strain through the last half of New Zealand's innings and was bowled sparingly by South Africa captain Graeme Smith. In his absence, none of the other South African bowlers — so penetrative in the series — could dislodge the stubborn Williamson who batted for six hours for his first century since his Test debut.

Morkel had the penultimate over of the innings at the New Zealand batsman but failed to make the final breakthrough that might have pitched it to defeat. Vernon Philander bowled the last over with the second new ball but also could not end New Zealand's resistance.

Philander took 21 wickets in the series at an average of 14 but went wicketless in New Zealand's innings on Tuesday for the first time in the three Tests. He still finishes the series with 51 career wickets at an average of 13.8, having reached the 50-wicket milestone faster than any player in 16 years.

Morkel has been partly overshadowed in the series by Philander and Dale Steyn — who bowled 15 overs on Tuesday at a cost of only 14 runs — but he had his chance to shine on the last day of the series.

Handed the new ball by Smith, he responded magnificently, dismissing Daniel Flynn and Brendon McCullum, both without scoring, to leave New Zealand two down for one run in the fifth over.

He then removed Martin Guptill for 18 and when he bowled Brownlie and Daniel Vettori (0) with successive deliveries he seemed to have set up South Africa's win. But Williamson resisted and his partnerships with van Wyk, which ate up 25 overs, and with Bracewell, which occupied the last 20 overs of the match, saved New Zealand.

"It was hard work today and obviously it was a big day for me and for the team," Morkel said. "I'm pleased with the effort the boys put in for this last 80 overs because we knew it was going to be hard.

"Last night I was bowling to (coach Gary Kirsten's) two sons in the corridor of the hotel just so I could get one or two wickets. But I knew my game or my time was just around the corner and it was just a matter of hanging in there."

For New Zealand to survive 81 overs in Taylor's absence, and under the weight of South Africa's hefty declaration was cheering, especially for a team beaten so heavily in Hamilton.

"It's a great fighting effort," stand-in captain Brendon McCullum said. "It would have been nice if we had a total we could chase down for the win and to level the series, but it wasn't to be.

"Kane Williamson showed at a young age how great he is and hopefully he'll inspire a lot of us to play a lot better than we have."

South Africa made Smith's confident declaration possible on Tuesday when they rushed from their overnight score of 75 without loss to 189 for 3 in just over an hour. AB de Villiers smashed 68 from only 50 balls to allow Smith to declare with a 388-run advantage and with plenty of time to dismiss New Zealand.

South Africa had made 474 for 9 before declaring their first innings — helped by Alviro Petersen's 156 — and bowled out New Zealand for 275 thanks to Philander's 6 for 81. South Africa led by 199 runs and built solidly on that but Williamson, with the first century by a New Zealand batsman in the series, saved the day.

SA beat NZ by 6 wickets, seal ODI series

Napier: Morne Morkel took five wickets and Hashim Amla hit 92 runs as South Africa coasted to a six-wicket, series-clinching win over New Zealand in the second one-day cricket international on Wednesday.

Morkel (5-38) and Lonwabo Tsotsobe (3-43), provoked a collapse which saw New Zealand slump from 163-2 in the 33rd over to be all out for an inadequate 230 in 47.3 overs. With the win, South Africa takes a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

Brendon McCullum marked his 200th one-day international by top-scoring with 85 for New Zealand, but when he was out New Zealand lost its last six wickets for 55 runs, including 5-35 between the 30th and 40th overs.

Amla then directed a composed run chase which saw South Africa reach its winning target with almost 12 overs to spare.

South Africa was 192-4 when Amla was dismissed in the 32nd over, needing only 39 runs to clinch a match and series victory.

Captain A.B. de Villiers steered the rest of the run chase, making 31 not out and sealing the win with a casual single from the second ball of the 39th over.

"I thought we played consistently well today," de Villiers said. "Right from the start the boys had the right attitude.

"We had a good presence in the field and Morne bowled exceptionally well and set the trend for us and the boys just followed."

Morkel's was a remarkable bowling performance. He had 0-33 late in his spell but then sliced through New Zealand's middle and lower order to take five wickets for five runs.

Amla then made light of the run chase on a pitch on which 300 was easily achievable. He lost his opening partner, Jacques Kallis, in the third over when South Africa was only 11, but remained confident and kept up a high run-rate from the outset.

Amla found the short boundaries at McLean Park with ease, taking 24 of his first 26 runs from fours and reaching his 50 from 51 balls.

"It's always nice when someone starts well for you up the order," de Villiers said. "It takes a lot of pressure off the middle order and we had that today, and it made it very easy for the middle order.

McCullum put on 107 for the second wicket with Martin Guptill (58) to set a solid foundation for the New Zealand innings. But he was one of three batsmen dismissed during New Zealand's batting powerplay as the innings quickly unraveled.

Kane Williamson was out for 13 in the first over of the powerplay, McCullum followed in the third over — after scoring his 85 runs from 96 balls with 11 fours and two sixes.

Jesse Ryder fell for a duck one over later as New Zealand slumped from 163-2 to 179-5 in the overs which were supposed to be the most productive of its innings.

Tsotsobe dismissed McCullum and Williamson after removing opener Rob Nicol (11) in the sixth over of the innings. The tall left-armer made up for dropping an easy caught-and-bowled chance when McCullum was on 18 and New Zealand 51-1.

Morkel then hastened the collapse, removing James Franklin, Kyle Mills, Tim Southee (28), Tarun Nethula and finally Andrew Ellis (19) to end the New Zealand innings.

He was twice on a hat trick, dismissing Franklin and Mills with successive balls, before doing the same with Southee and Nethula.

Legspinner Nethula had an eventful one-day international debut. He was bowled with the first ball of his first one-day innings, was hit for four from the first ball of his first one-day over and had two catches dropped from his bowling.

But he battled back to dismiss Amla and Duminy, South Africa's top-scorers, and to finish with 2-60 from his 10 overs.

"I guess 8-60 odd is not really acceptable so we have to have to take a good, hard look at ourselves there," McCullum said.

"We got ourselves into a position from which we should have kicked on and got some impetus later on and got around that 300 mark. But we obviously weren't able to do so."

The third match is in Auckland on Saturday.

Sri Lanka crash to their lowest one-day score

PAARL, South Africa,  - Sri Lanka collapsed to their lowest one-day score of 43 on Wednesday when they lost by 258 runs to South Africa in the first one-day international at Boland Park.

Their total equalled the fourth previous lowest score ever in 50 overs internationals and the victory margin was the third largest. The Sri Lankans' previous lowest score was 55 against West Indies in Sharjah in 1986.

Pace bowlers Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe claimed seven wickets between them as Sri Lanka, chasing 302 for victory, were shot out in 20.1 overs.

Hashim Amla earlier scored a century at opener before Morkel destroyed the Sri Lankan top-order with pace and bounce to claim four for 10 off six overs. Tsotsobe also created havoc with the new ball, taking three for 19 in six overs with his left-arm seamers.

Kosala Kulasekara was the only Sri Lankan batsman to reach double figures and was the ninth man out for 19.

Amla anchored the South African innings with a determined 112 off 128 balls, stroking eight classy boundaries. It was the ninth century in 53 ODIs for the vice-captain.

The hosts won the toss and AB de Villiers, leading the team for the first time, chose to bat first.

South Africa scored 301 for eight with Jacques Kallis stroking a fluent 72 off 80 balls, adding 144 for the second wicket with Amla.

De Villiers added a quickfire 52 off 40 balls, before fast bowler Lasith Malinga ripped through the lower-order, taking five for 53 as South Africa lost five wickets for 22 runs in 4.4 overs.