Kane Williamson struck a delightful half-century as HRV cup winners from New Zealand, Northern District Knights won the opening game of the Champions League T20 qualifiers stage as they beat the Sri Lankan domestic T20 champions, Southern Express by 7 wickets in a 10-over affair played at Raipur on Saturday evening.
Afternoon showers delayed the start of play by two hours and the officials reduced the playing overs to 10 per side as Knights skipper Daniel Flynn won the toss and opted to field first. Southern Express got off to an electrifying start thanks to their opening pair of Kusal Janith Perera and Danushka Gunathilaka. Kusal was the aggressor early on as he punished the Kiwi fast-bowlers with his usual flamboyant style of hitting as he caressed the field with beautiful cover-drives and flicks.
Knights were disappointing in the field as they dropped more than 6 chances in the space of 5 overs as Kusal raced to 37 in 20 balls before he was finally caught by Trent Boult off Scott Styris as the Southern boys were 55 for 1 at the end of 6 overs.
Danushka consumed bit of balls early on to get his rhythm going but he finally managed to find form with few lusty blows during the final overs as he top-scored for Southern Express with 39 runs in 26 balls with 3 big sixes. After losing Danushka when the score was on 82, Knights used the short ball to great effect in keeping the Lankan batsmen up on their toes as they failed to deliver the goods in the death overs by managing only 92 for 5 in their allocated 10 overs.
Chasing 93 runs to win, Southern Express introduced spin from the very outset and the Northern Knights counter-attacked perfectly scoring risk-free shots against the spinners. Knights raced to 40 runs after the completion of the 3 power-play overs. Kane Williamson was not fazed by the Lankan bowlers as he managed to score runs at a rapid pace.
Experienced fast bowler Farveez Maharoof dismissed both the openers, Kane Williamson and Anton Devcich but they had already done the damage. Williamson’s 29-ball 52 consist 7 fours and a six was the key for the Northern Knights chase as they reached their target losing only 3 wickets and 3 balls to remaining with Daniel Harris smashing the ball to the fence.
Chief Scores:
Southern Express – 92/5 in 10 overs: Kusal Janith Perera 37, Danushka Gunathilaka 39, Trent Boult 2/12.
Northern Knights – 96/3 in 19.3 overs: Kane Williamson 52, Anton Devcich 14, Daniel Flynn 14, Farveez Maharoof 2/14.
