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Alonso helps Somerset seal a thriller
by Jinu Sabastian


Ground:Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Scorecard:Deccan Chargers v Somerset
Player:AC Thomas, VVS Laxman
Event:Champions League 2009/10

DateLine: 10th October 2009

 

The jinx for the IPL teams continued in the Champions League 2009/10 as this time it was the turn of Deccan Chargers to face defeat in the tournament. For a majority off the time they had the game under their control but as the match progressed, Somerset found two unlikely heroes who steered their county side to a thrilling one wicket win.

 

Opting to field first after winning the toss, Langer soon had to deal with a transformed Laxman who wielded his bat like a hammer rather than his usual paint-brush style. For two overs Gilchrist stood watching as Laxman barring one gentle cut past the point was like a runaway train who resembled more of Sehwag rather than the usual soft-spoken Hyderabadi. Laxman danced down the track to lift Willoughby over mid-off and then played a perfect straight drive off Thomas to that left Langer and his team gasping for breath. Gilchrist joined the fun when he hammered a wayward Willoughby for 17 runs in one over and it seemed that Somerset had a long day ahead of them.

 

Thomas then managed to bring some cheer for his team-mates when he managed to extract pace and bounce to dislodge Gilchrist which the batsman could only top-edge to Trescothick at slip. That did not stop Laxman who continued with his merry ways as he tore into Willoughby but another wicket fell when Suman's unsuccessful stay in the middle was terminated by Philips. Symonds was off when he fetched a boundary off the first ball but Philips and Trego managed to get some dot balls against him and finally that brought about his downfall. Laxman continued with his merry ways but a slower on from Trego was enough to eject him from the middle and soon Deccan Chargers seemed to have lost the momentum at 89 for 4 in eleven overs. Sharma Styris and Venugopal Rao made full toll off the last few overs and finally Chargers finished with a challenging total of 153 for the loss off nine wickets in their stipulated 20 overs.

 

Somerset in reply got off to a positive when Trescothick found the boundary ropes thrice to give the Chargers a scare. But RP Singh managed to get the extra bounce to remove the dangerous Trescothick. Edwards consistently managed to touch the 140 kmph mark but could not locate the right line and length to trouble any batsmen. While RP Singh managed to put a tight leash over the batsmen, none of the other bowlers were able to replicate that success. RP Singh continued to impress with the ball when he struck twice in an over to remove Zander de Bruyn and Justin Langer to put Somerset in a spot of bother.

 

After the batting powerplay the spinners managed to tighten the screw as the run-rate declined sharply. Kieswetter ran out off patience and he finally gave away his wicket to an accurate Ojha. Quick wickets of Trego, Suppiah and Philips spelled doom for the English county team before they were rescued by a feisty 50 run partnership between Hildreth and Thomas as the duo put the innings back on track. Though Styris managed to extract two wickets in the final over, Thomas kept a cool head to steer his team to win.

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