New South Wales claim victory despite late stutter
An electrifying 65 from David Warner led New South Wales to a four-wicket win over South Australia at the Adelaide Oval
The Bulletin by Alex Malcolm
06-Jan-2009
New South Wales 6 for 161 (Warner 65, Hughes 35, Tait 3-30) beat South Australia 8 for 160 (Cooper 46, Bird 3-35, Bracken 3-38) by four wickets
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An electrifying 65 from David Warner led New South Wales to a four-wicket win over South Australia in their Twenty20 Big Bash encounter at the Adelaide Oval. While on paper the victory with 10 balls to spare looked comfortable enough, in reality it was far from it.
Warner's blistering 35-ball innings, which included four massive sixes, put the Blues in a wonderful position chasing a below-par target of 161. But three wickets in two overs from Shaun Tait put the shakes through the baby Blues. Phil Hughes (30), Moises Henriques (6), and Dominic Thornely (28) all fell to the raw pace of Tait, who was impressive on his return from a hamstring strain. When Ben Rohrer, who was bowled by Dan Cullen, and Steven Smith was run-out in consecutive deliveries, the Blues still needed 11 off 20 with four wickets in hand.
South Australia struggled to their total of 8 for 160 thanks to a polished all-round bowling performance from the Blues. Aaron Bird and Nathan Bracken led the wicket-takers but it was clever spells from Mark Cameron and the captain Thornely which really put pressure on the Redbacks middle order. Tom Cooper and Dan Christian held the innings together but 160 was never enough.
Peter Forrest and Daniel Smith held their nerve at the end of the chase to ensure Warner's Man-of-the-Match performance did not go unrewarded. Warner rode his luck after being bowled from a Tait no-ball but he struck some powerful blows including one which dented the roof of the George Giffen stand.
For all the talk of the double-sided bat doubling the fun for Warner, he only got half the value, with 21 runs coming from the front of the new blade. After he miscued a free hit no-ball over mid-on for four he decided to change back to a traditional one. The win places New South Wales in second on the table while South Australia slip to fourth.