Centurion, Sept. 15: Chennai Super Kings cruised past Wayamba Eleven by 97 runs in the Champions League T20 match here on Wednesday.
Batting first, CSK scored a mammoth 200 for 3 riding on blistering knocks from Suresh Raina (87) and Murali Vijay (68) and then dismissed Wayamba for 103 in 17.1 overs with Ravichandran Ashwin (4/18) and Albie Morkel (3/22) leading the way.
Meanwhile, Aaron Finch hit an unbeaten 93 as the Victoria Bushrangers gained their first CLT20 win, beating the Central Stags by seven wickets.
Finch held his nerve in a tense finish, hitting Doug Bracewell for six off the fourth ball of the final over, after the Australian side found themselves needing 48 off the last four overs.
Finch found a solid partner in Andrew McDonald, who hit 18 not out in an unbeaten stand of 66. Stags captain Jamie How earlier hit an unbeaten 77 off 55 balls as the New Zealand team reached 165 for five in their 20 overs. The Stags made a poor start, with Victoria fast bowler Peter Siddle taking two wickets in the first over.
At the halfway stage they had laboured to 48 for three.
But the tournament pattern of teams struggling against the new ball and then scoring freely later in the innings continued.
How and George Worker (29) put on 53 in 48 balls for the fourth wicket before Brendon Diaminti helped How add 66 off 29 balls for the fifth wicket, which included 28 runs off the18th over, bowled by John Hastings.
Finch played a fine innings but made a lucky start. He was caught off a no-ball bowled by Bracewell before he had scored and was dropped on 43 when he hit a hard return chance to left-arm slow bowler Worker.
Meanwhile, South Australian Redbacks took a pounding from the Mumbai Indians batsmen, but still clinched a five-wicket win on Tuesday.
Batting first, Mumbai hammered 180 for seven in their 20 overs despite a slow start on a lively Kingsmead pitch. But Michael Klinger (50) and Daniel Harris (56) took advantage of some sloppy fielding as they put on 112 for South Australia’s first wicket. Mumbai appeared to have regained the initiative when three wickets fell in 12 balls but the unheralded Redbacks’ sixth wicket pair Cameron Borgas and Tom Cooper put on 24 off seven balls to get the Australian side home with three balls to spare.
Brief scores
Chennai Super Kings 200/3 in 20 overs (S. Raina 87, M. Vijay 68) bt Wayamba Eleven 103 in 17.1 overs (Albie Morkel 3/22, R. Ashwin 4/18).
Central Stags 165/5 in 20 overs (Jamie How 77 n.o., G. Worker 29; Peter Siddle 2 for 30) lost to
Victoria Bushrangers 166/3 in 19.4 overs (Aaron Finch 93 n.o.).
Mumbai Indians 180/7 in 20 overs (Ambati Rayudu 38, Saurabh Tiwary 44) lost to South Australian Redbacks 182/5 in 19.3 overs (M. Klinger 50, D. Harris 56; L. Malinga 2/22).