De Kock's eventful day ends in defeat

Lions batsman Quinton de Kock's unbeaten 109 was not enough to prevent a heart-breaking Super Over loss to Otago Volts, and their subsequent ouster from the Champions League. De Kock was chiefly responsible for putting Lions in a strong position, and smashed a four and six in the Super Over when 14 was required for victory. However, off the final ball, he failed to take an apparent second run which would have taken them to victory, and keep their tournament hopes alive.

"Yeah, it is difficult," de Kock said after the loss. "I mean I came here and I tried to do my best for the team. I feel bad for the team. Yeah it is sad to lose especially after getting some runs."

De Kock's century was an innings of two parts. His first 50 runs were a rather scratchy affair, with some ill-timed shots around the wicket. However, once he passed fifty, he started to open up and take advantage of some poor bowling from Otago Volts, who bowled a number of short deliveries which de Kock accepted gleefully.

This innings was a landmark for de Kock, who has not enjoyed the best of times in the subcontinent of late. He was bought by Sunrisers Hyderabad in this year's auction for his base price of $20,000, and did not do too much after, with a duck on debut, scoring only 6 runs in 3 innings. He was duly dropped from the side and did not feature for the rest of the campaign, despite Sunrisers reaching the final four. Following that, he endured a torrid ODI tour of Sri Lanka, scoring only 55 runs in three innings.

"Yeah I finally scored some runs in the subcontinent. I have been working hard on my game, especially here on these kind of wickets. Yeah, let's hope that my hard work has paid off now."

His captain, Alviro Petersen, had praise for his young ward. "Yeah he is a good player," Petersen said. "We know he is a special talent, we have played together and every time he seems to score some runs and put us in a good position."

When queried about the loss, Petersen was most critical of the bowler's performance. "I am more disappointed in the way we bowled. It is the worst I have seen the Lions bowl so it is something we need to work on, and it's something we have to go back to the drawing board and come back stronger."

Petersen was also upfront about the lack of experience his players had in these conditions. "Most of our team hasn't played in the subcontinent. We don't have a lot of international players. We are a team that relies on every single player to perform well, you know, and we just came together here so we are disappointed but we need to keep our heads high."