LIONS vs Sixers, Final at Johannesburg, Oct 28 2012 - Ball by Ball Commentary

Presentation:

The Man of the Match is Michael Lumb. He also gets the Golden Bat for being the highest run-scorer: "Dirk and Sohail bowled well early on. Ball came on quite nicely on to the bat. Got to take my hat off to the rest of the guys."

Mitchell Starc is the Man of the Series. Also gets the Golden Wicket: "The extra bounce and pace was good. Our spinners showed class today. Josh deserved a lot more wickets than he got. My first experience in SA has been a great one."

Alviro Petersen: "We started poorly. I don't think a lot of people gave us a chance to reach the final. You can't put your finger on why we lost today. Disappointing we couldn't put on a show. Really happy with the way the guys have performed as a unit."

Brad Haddin: "The prep for this game was outstanding. T20 is about going for the gut feeling. Everyone expected us to start with the fast bowlers but we decided to take the pace off the ball. The positive we can take is the whole team contributed at various stages."

So Haddin lofts the massive trophy and he's joined by his team-mates. To say massive is an understatement.

So we end up finishing much earlier than expected. Pretty much summed up the Sixers through this tournament. They were ruthless and hence deserved winners. Lots of reading material coming up on this match over the next few hours and the tournament over the next couple of days. That's a LOT of T20 cricket over the last few weeks.

Thanks for your mails and your company. Cheers guys!

End of match: It also happens to be the first ten-wicket win in the Champions League. Steve O'Keefe says it's a surreal feeling winning this final. He said he had no idea he'd be asked to bowl the second over. That was the story of this final. Sixers throwing a different challenge to the Lions by opening with spinners; at 9 for 4, it was always going to be Sydney. A score of 121 is never safe enough in this format. The Lions bowlers had some control during the Powerplay but once Lumb got past his scratchy start he was unstoppable.

You have to feel for Lions and the thousands at the Wanderers today to see their home team. A case of stage fright perhaps. Tough luck. They've played some entertaining cricket in this tournament, knocking out star-studded IPL sides.

Naz Mohammed: "What an embarrasment to T20 cricket. Had non-cricketing friends convinced that they should watch the finals today. Now I will have to explain what went wrong. If ICC wants to gain momentum in a land where cricket is now getting popular they got to allow champions to play and not schoolboys looking to make a name for themselves. The bowling of Lion is attrocious except for Nannes and Tanvir. The fielding is worse - my club Hamilton Cricket Club from Ontario Canada could have done a better job."

Priyadarshi: "It will be exciting to see this Sydney Sixers outfit with all it's national team players including Watson, Starc, Cummins, Haddin playing for them up against the best of the rest of Australia in a T-20 game. Sixers might still get the better of their opponents."

John: "The Sixers aren't even breaking into a sweat. No judgement, but magenta really suits these guys!"