Foreign recruits plot South Australia win
An all-round performance masterminded by South Australia's foreign recruits, Kieron Pollard and Shahid Afridi, helped them overcome Western Australia in Perth
Alex Malcolm
29-Dec-2009
Kieron Pollard powered South Australia to 196, a score that proved beyond Western Australia's reach • Getty Images
South Australia 6 for 196 (Pollard 45, Cosgrove 42) beat Western Australia 167 (Voges 45, Gayle 44, Afridi 4-19) by 29 runs
Scorecard
Scorecard
Overseas signings Shahid Afridi and Kieron Pollard starred in South Australia's victory over Western Australia in the Twenty20 Big Bash encounter at the WACA. Afridi, the player of the tournament in this year's World Twenty20, shrugged off a first-ball duck in the first innings and produced a mesmerising spell of leg-spin bowling that gave him figures of 4 for 19 and the Man-of-the-Match award.
Afridi entered the attack in the eighth over of the chase with the score on 81 without loss. The rousing start was thanks to Chris Gayle's brutal assault that yielded 40 runs in 16 balls. The scoreboard damage he inflicted was minimal in comparison to what some spectators might have suffered if struck by one of his three massive sixes.
Such was the power of Gayle's bat-swing, the West Indies captain strained a side-muscle and had to retire hurt. The severity of his injury is yet to be determined, but it could have ramifications not only for Western Australia's fortunes in this tournament but also for the West Indies' campaign in the ODI series in February.
Following Gayle's retirement, Afridi knocked over Ronchi and began to stifle the run-scoring in telling fashion as his second over went for just four runs.
Gayle returned, clearly sore, to join Adam Voges and the game hung in the balance before Shaun Tait removed them both in the 18th over to atone for spraying four balls in his first spell which cost 12 wides. Afridi then cleaned up the tail to seal victory for the Redbacks.
Earlier, South Australia's other import Kieron Pollard proved his performance in the Champions League for Trinidad and Tobago wasn't a one-off when he clubbed 45 from 31 balls to set up the match-winning total of 196. He was ably supported by Mark Cosgrove (42) and Cameron Borgas, whose unbeaten cameo of 34 in 16 balls was part of a 60-run stand that propelled the Redbacks to a monumental score.