Otago Volts electrified the Champions League T20 2013 with a sizzling display with the bat as they turned on the heat against the Perth Scorchers, beating the plucky young Australian state side by a comfortable 62 runs here on Wednesday.
Led by an unbeaten 117 from opener Neil Broom and aggressive knocks by Ryan ten Doeschate (66) and Derek de Boorder (45), the Kiwis piled up a CLT20 record 242/4 before restricting the Scorchers to 180/6 to continue their unbeaten run at this championship, starting with the qualifiers in Mohali last week.
Needing almost 12.5 runs from every over, the Scorchers were jolted by the quick dismissals of openers Liam Davis, Ashton Agar and skipper Simon Katich, who was run out at the bowler’s end without even having faced a ball, the wickets falling within the first nine deliveries of their reply.
Young Hilton Cartwright and veteran Adam Voges staged something of a fightback, but the decision to pack the team with spinners affected the Scorchers badly, who saw their slow bowlers mauled by Broom and ten Doeschate in particular. Not helping their cause was the fielding, which wilted in the face of the rampaging batsmanship.
Cartwright, all of 21, led the Scorchers reply with a spirited effort , his unbeaten 73 coming off 54 deliveries and studded with seven boundaries and two sixes. But there was precious little from the others, no surprise considering they had set off in chase of the highest CLT20 score ever, bettering Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 215/8 against South Australia at home two years ago.
Earlier, the Volts turned on the firepower in an awesome display of hitting as they breached the 200-run mark for the first time by any team at this year’s competition. Fours and sixes flowed as Broom, ten Doeschate and Derek de Boorder sent the ball flying to all parts of the ground.
Just how badly the Western Australians had got it wrong shows in the fact that they fielded as many as three spinners against a team who have been in the sub-continent for close to a month, and on a sporting pitch. Michael Beer, Ashton Agar and Adam Voges were all taken to the cleaners, conceding a round hundred runs between themselves.
Broom (56b, 9x4, 8x6), de Boorder (45, 28b, 5x4, 2x6) and ten Doeschate (28b, 3x4, 6x6) took full toll of the relatively raw attack.
Left-arm quick Joe Paris may have rattled the Volts with his two wickets early on but Broom, coming off a long slump where he has rarely troubled the scorers, finally found his mojo. He let de Boorder do the early running after losing Hamish Rutherford and Brendon McCullum in the third over, and finally hit his straps with ten Doeschate.

Scorecard
Otago Volts: N. Broom (not out) 117, H. Rutherford lbw b Paris 2, B. McCullum lbw b Paris 0, DC de Boorder b Voges 45, R. ten Doeschate c Davis b Behrendorff 66, J. Neesham (not out) 8. Extras (w 4) 4, Total (for 4 wkts, in 20 overs) 242.
FoW: 1-9, 2-9, 3-76, 4-204.
Bowling: Beer 4-0-32-0, Behrendorff 4-0-43-1, Paris 4-1-50-2, Cockley 3-0-45-0 (1w), Agar 2-0-22-0, Cartwright 1-0-14-0, Voges 2-0-36-1 (1w)
Perth Scorchers: L. Davis c Rutherford b Butler 0, A. Agar c de Boorder b Butler 10, S. Katich (run out) 0, A. Voges c Butler b McCullum 36,H. Cartwright (not out) 73, A. Turner c & b Butler 23, T. Triffitt c Broom b McMillan 25. Extras (lb 6, w 6, nb 1) 13, Total (for 6 wkts, in 20 overs) 180.
FoW: 1-0, 2-11, 3-11, 4-76, 5-127, 6-180.
Bowling: Butler 4-0-47-3 (2w), McMillan 3-1-19-1 (1nb), Beard 4-0-35-0 (1w), Wagner 3-0-24-0, Neesham 3-0-20-0 (2w), McCullum 3-0-29-1.