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Lions surge to second win

Cape Town - The Highveld Lions turned in another giant-killing performance as they defeated the Chennai Super Kings by six wickets in their Champions League Twenty20 Group B match at Newlands on Tuesday.

Full scorecard

Jean Symes and Chris Morris undefeated on 39 and 12 respectively took the Lions to the victory target of 159 with three balls to spare in Albie Morkel's final over.

It was the Lions' second win in as many matches after they had beaten the Mumbai Indians in their first Group B match, on Suday and are now well on the way to securing a semi-final berth.

The Lions' run-chase floundered at the start when skipper Alviro Petersen (0) was trapped lbw by Doug Bollinger with the first ball of the innings.

Bollinger returned for his second over to inflict more damage, snapping up the wicket of Quinton de Kock (5) with the total on eight for two after 17 balls.

Gulam Bodi and Neil McKenzie set about repairing the innings in painstaking fashion, to steer the Lions to a position within striking distance.

Bodi was the aggressor on a slowish batting strip as the pair put on 93 for the third-wicket.

But an inspired bowling spell, which saw Morkel return for his third over brought relief for Chennai.

Bodi 64 off 46-balls offered a thick edge and was caught by Mahendra Sing Dhoni but his effort helped to steer the innings to 102 for three in the 14th over.

McKenzie (33) was dismissed soon after, but his effort inspired the remaining batsmen to launch the side's victory bid with a fair chance of success.

Jean Symes produced a cavalier knock, which included five fours in his unbeaten 39 off 23-balls. At the other end Morris smacked a towering six, scoring 12 off 7 balls in his supporting role.

The win enabled the Lions to join the Sydney Sixers at the top of the Group B standings, each with 8 points after two matches.

Earlier, the Lions won the toss and elected to field. Chennai openers Faf du Plessis (25) and Murali Vijay (22) were off to a brisk start with a 44-run first-wicket partnership, which came at just under eight runs to the over before Aaron Phangiso took a great catch off Chris Morris's bowling to send Du Plessis back to the pavilion.

Spinner Phangiso tied the Chennai batsmen down to finish his four overs in economical fashion to finish with two for 17 off his four overs.

Suresh Raina (20) and Vijay lost their wickets in quick succession as the total moved from 69 for two to 70 for three, but Chennai skipper MS Dhoni (34) and Ravindra Jadeja (21) managed to check the Lions' momentum with a flurry of boundaries in their 32-run partnership for the fourth-wicket.

The departure of Jadeja and subsequently Morkel (4) brought Subramaniam Badrinath (27 not out) to the wicket and together with Dhoni the pair put on a 25-ball 50, before they were parted with one ball left.

Badrinath cracked two sixes in his 14-ball knock.

Apart from Phangiso, the other Lions stand-out bowler was paceman Morris who managed a maiden in his four-over spell to finish with one for 24.
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