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Hyderabad - Alfonso Thomas was the hero as he steered Somerset to a nail biting one-wicket victory over the Deccan Chargers off the final delivery in their Champions League Twenty20 match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Saturday.
Chasing 154, RP Singh gave the home team a great start when he dismissed Marcus Trescothick -- fresh from an outstanding English domestic season in which he piled on 2 934 runs across all competitions -- in the second over for 14.
He followed that up with a double-strike in his third over as he first sent back Zander de Bruyn (19) and then Justin Langer (15).
The middle-order batsmen all got starts but could not capitalise, and with the English team on 99 for seven, Deccan’s fortunes seemed to be turning.
However, James Hildreth and Alfonso Thomas put on 50 runs for the eight wicket, but, with five runs to get off the final over, Scott Styris dismissed both Hildreth and Max Waller to swing the pendulum back in Deccan’s favour.
But Thomas came to the rescue when he swatted the final delivery over point for a boundary to seal the victory.
Said man-of-the-match Thomas afterwards, "The jobs are done, we've got to keep our feet on the ground though. Myself and Hildreth were saying lets keep it to the last over. Fidel Edwards taken off was a big blow for them."
Edwards struggled with a wet ball, and when it slipped out of his hand a second time resulting in another beamer, he was removed from the bowling attack.
Adam Gilchrist noted, "Can't break that duck here. Fought back really well but Somerset played really well. We were about 40 short, on this great pitch. The ball got damp later on, that was unfortunate with Edwards at the end. Styris bowled well at the end, it's a fast game, that's what you love about it.
"There's still life in this competition for us, the crowd have supported us throughout. "
Earlier, having been asked to bat, Deccan Chargers’ big-hitting attack struggled to impress as they were restricted to 153 for nine.
Their skipper and opening batsman Gilchrist -- flamboyant as always -- started off flashy enough, taking Charl Willoughby for 16 in this second over.
However, he fell in the very next one to all-rounder Thomas, as he mistimed a pull to gift Marcus Trescothick an easy catch in the gully.
VVS Laxman, on the other hand, continued blazing while two more batsmen departed, before he was clean-bowled by Peter Trego for 46, needing only 35 balls, including seven boundaries.
Trego finished with miserly figures of 2/17 off his four overs.
Ben Phillips, however, was the pick of the Somerset attack with 3/31.
Somerset captain, Langer, congratulated all involved. "It was great to play a game like this, in front of this crowd and this great stadium. It just shows the character of the team, this win. We've had a couple of fantastic years in county cricket, and we've also won a lot of close games like these.
"We've got a big game against Trinidad coming up. There are still areas where we can improve, but to win this is a big confidence-boost for us."
Teams:
Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman, AC Gilchrist (capt & wk), TL Suman, A Symonds, RG Sharma, SB Styris, Y Venugopal Rao, RP Singh, FH Edwards, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh
Somerset: JL Langer (capt), ME Trescothick, Z de Bruyn, C Kieswetter (wk), AV Suppiah, PD Trego, JC Hildreth, BJ Phillips, AC Thomas, MTC Waller, CM Willoughby
Chasing 154, RP Singh gave the home team a great start when he dismissed Marcus Trescothick -- fresh from an outstanding English domestic season in which he piled on 2 934 runs across all competitions -- in the second over for 14.
He followed that up with a double-strike in his third over as he first sent back Zander de Bruyn (19) and then Justin Langer (15).
The middle-order batsmen all got starts but could not capitalise, and with the English team on 99 for seven, Deccan’s fortunes seemed to be turning.
However, James Hildreth and Alfonso Thomas put on 50 runs for the eight wicket, but, with five runs to get off the final over, Scott Styris dismissed both Hildreth and Max Waller to swing the pendulum back in Deccan’s favour.
But Thomas came to the rescue when he swatted the final delivery over point for a boundary to seal the victory.
Said man-of-the-match Thomas afterwards, "The jobs are done, we've got to keep our feet on the ground though. Myself and Hildreth were saying lets keep it to the last over. Fidel Edwards taken off was a big blow for them."
Edwards struggled with a wet ball, and when it slipped out of his hand a second time resulting in another beamer, he was removed from the bowling attack.
Adam Gilchrist noted, "Can't break that duck here. Fought back really well but Somerset played really well. We were about 40 short, on this great pitch. The ball got damp later on, that was unfortunate with Edwards at the end. Styris bowled well at the end, it's a fast game, that's what you love about it.
"There's still life in this competition for us, the crowd have supported us throughout. "
Earlier, having been asked to bat, Deccan Chargers’ big-hitting attack struggled to impress as they were restricted to 153 for nine.
Their skipper and opening batsman Gilchrist -- flamboyant as always -- started off flashy enough, taking Charl Willoughby for 16 in this second over.
However, he fell in the very next one to all-rounder Thomas, as he mistimed a pull to gift Marcus Trescothick an easy catch in the gully.
VVS Laxman, on the other hand, continued blazing while two more batsmen departed, before he was clean-bowled by Peter Trego for 46, needing only 35 balls, including seven boundaries.
Trego finished with miserly figures of 2/17 off his four overs.
Ben Phillips, however, was the pick of the Somerset attack with 3/31.
Somerset captain, Langer, congratulated all involved. "It was great to play a game like this, in front of this crowd and this great stadium. It just shows the character of the team, this win. We've had a couple of fantastic years in county cricket, and we've also won a lot of close games like these.
"We've got a big game against Trinidad coming up. There are still areas where we can improve, but to win this is a big confidence-boost for us."
Teams:
Deccan Chargers: VVS Laxman, AC Gilchrist (capt & wk), TL Suman, A Symonds, RG Sharma, SB Styris, Y Venugopal Rao, RP Singh, FH Edwards, PP Ojha, Harmeet Singh
Somerset: JL Langer (capt), ME Trescothick, Z de Bruyn, C Kieswetter (wk), AV Suppiah, PD Trego, JC Hildreth, BJ Phillips, AC Thomas, MTC Waller, CM Willoughby
