De Kock ton in vain as Super Over strikes

Cricket365
September 29, 2013

The Highveld Lions and the Otago Volts gave the Jaipur crowd a superb show on Sunday, as they endured a tie not once, but twice, as they went to a Super Over and then drew that too, giving the Volts the win on a technicality.

The match proper saw the Lions made 167 for four, thanks to a century from Quinton de Kock, before Jimmy Neesham's cameo half century secured the tie and Super Over. Otago then made 13 off their six balls, before De Kock's two boundaries went in vain again.

Otago got the win because the final ball of each over became the important ones. The Volts had a six thanks to Brendan McCullum's big hitting, which beat the single and run out the Lions scored, putting them on 13 too.

The Volts won the toss earlier in the day and chose to field first, and soon had the South African side on the back foot. Rassie van der Dassen was out for 17, trapped LBW by James McMillan in the eighth over.

Temba Bavuma and Alviro Petersen fell in consecutive Nick Beard deliveries, for 13 and 0 respectively, with the score on 73. This left De Kock to carry the rest of the innings, as he upped his pace dramatically.

Jean Symes was able to make 20 at the other end, but otherwise it was all De Kock, who scored his century off 60 balls. In his 109, he hit 10 fours and five sixes, including one in the final over, off Neesham.

The Lions stayed in the hunt for most of the Volts' chase, and it seemed to be a foregone conclusion that the men in red would record their first win of the tournament. Hamish Rutherford and Derek de Boorder made 32 each, but they were alone in getting to double figures.

Then came Neesham, who dismantled the Lions' pace attack with deadly force. He smashed his 50 off just 23 balls, taking what seemed to be an impossible task to 11 required off the final over, which Sohail Tanvir bowled.

With 10 coming off that over, and thus levelling the scores, the game went into the Super Over. McCullum and Neesham came out to bat for the Volts, and B-Mac's six off the final ball made sure they had something to defend.

De Kock and Jean Symes did the chasing, and the former hit a four and a six off the first two balls. Again, it seemed like the Lions would win easily, but Neesham pulled it back and restricted the scoring. The final ball needed two off it, but they could only get one.

Lions: Quinton de Kock, Rassie van der Dussen, Alviro Petersen, Temba Bavuma, Jean Symes, Dwaine Pretorius, Sohail Tanvir, Hardus Viljoen, Lonwabo Tsotsobe, Imran Tahir, Ethan O'Reilly

Otago: Hamish Rutherford, Neil Broom, Brendan McCullum, Ryan ten Doeschate, Jimmy Neesham, Nathan McCullum, Derek de Boorder, Ian Butler, Neil Wagner, Nick Beard, James McMillan