Stats Analysis

All-round batting strength favours South Australia

A stats preview to the second semi-final between Warriors and South Australia

Madhusudhan Ramakrishnan
24-Sep-2010
South Australia go into the semi-final with a perfect record, having won all their matches in the tournament, while Warriors, the home team, suffered a close defeat against Chennai in their final group match. South Australia's batting and bowling departments have been in excellent shape and have enabled them to win comfortably whether they have batted first or chased. Warriors, on the other hand, achieved two run-chases comfortably against Wayamba and Central Districts and also won an important game against Victoria batting first. The only blip was their inability to chase a modest target against Chennai, though they did enough to qualify for the semi-finals.
South Australia and Warriors in the Champions League 2010
Team Matches played Won Lost Won batting first Won chasing
South Australia 4 4 0 2 2
Warriors 4 3 1 1 2
South Australia have been the most powerful batting side in the tournament so far, with the best run-rate and average among all teams - they are also the only side to average more than nine runs per over in this competition. They made 178 and 191 on the two occasions when they batted first, and chased down targets of 182 and 155 against Mumbai and Bangalore with relative comfort. The Warriors, though, have had mixed success, chasing down low targets against two fairly weak teams - Wayamba and Central Districts - and failing to chase down 136 against Chennai.
The Warriors have benefited from excellent opening stands between Davy Jacobs and Ashwell Prince, and have the best batting record among all teams in the Powerplay overs. South Australia have picked up more wickets in the Powerplay overs than Warriors although at a higher economy rate. South Australia dominate the batting stats in the middle and end overs: their run-rate in the last five overs is almost 13 and that has undoubtedly contributed to their large totals batting first. Overall, the Warrior bowlers have done better than their batsmen, and have achieved an economy rate that is considerably better than that of the South Australians.
Batting and bowling stats of the two teams in Champions League 2010
Team Runs scored Run rate Batting Average Wickets taken Economy rate Bowling average
South Australia-Overall 706 9.05 37.15 32 8.48 21.15
Warriors-Overall 621 8.01 29.57 27 7.42 22.00
South Australia-Powerplay overs 168 7.00 42.00 8 8.00 24.00
Warriors-Powerplay overs 219 9.12 109.50 5 7.08 34.00
South Australia-middle overs 306 8.50 61.20 11 8.05 26.36
Warriors-middle overs 257 7.13 32.12 12 7.02 21.08
South Australia-Last five overs 232 12.88 23.20 13 9.83 15.00
Warriors-Last five overs 145 8.28 13.18 10 8.55 17.10
Michael Klinger and Davy Jacobs are the leading batsman in the Champions League 2010, and their batting will probably be a huge factor in the crucial clash. Daniel Harris and Callum Ferguson are also among the runs in the tournament and this tilts the scales in favour of South Australia when the batting line-ups of the teams are compared.
Performance of South Australia and Warriors batsmen in Champions League 2010
Batsman Team Innings Runs Balls Run rate 4s 6s Average
Michael Klinger South Australia 4 213 168 7.60 20 9 71.00
Davy Jacobs Warriors 4 191 135 8.48 22 7 63.66
Daniel Harris South Australia 4 131 97 8.10 14 5 32.75
Callum Ferguson South Australia 4 129 83 9.32 13 2 43.00
Mark Boucher Warriors 4 109 78 8.38 9 5 54.50
Ashwell Prince Warriors 4 99 85 6.98 9 2 24.75
South Australia have picked up wickets regularly, but have proved to be expensive too. Shaun Tait's pace has unsettled most batsmen and he could be a potent force in the semi-final. Daniel Christian and Aaron O'Brien have also been among the wickets and lend balance to the attack. Juan Theron has been Warriors' most impressive bowler in the tournament picking up seven wickets while going at less than seven runs per over. Theron and the highly economical Johan Botha, who has conceded just over five runs per over, will be tested by the powerful South Australia batting line-up.
Performance of South Australia and Warriors bowlers in Champions League 2010
Bowler Team Innings Runs conceded Balls Economy rate Wickets Average
Daniel Christian South Australia 4 110 95 6.94 9 12.22
Juan Theron Warriors 4 108 96 6.75 7 15.42
Shaun Tait South Australia 3 86 72 7.16 6 14.33
Aaron O'Brien South Australia 4 144 96 9.00 5 28.80
Johan Botha Warriors 4 85 96 5.31 4 21.25
Justin Kreusch Warriors 4 54 48 6.75 4 13.50
The semi-final will be played at Centurion, which is generally a fairly batsman-friendly surface. Of the five matches played here, three have been won by the team chasing and two by the side batting first. In their only match at this ground, South Australia beat Lions by 11 runs, while Warriors are yet to play a match here. The batting performances here have been very contrasting, though. South Australia and Lions contested a high-scoring match, while Chennai Super Kings made the highest score of the tournament in their game against Wayamba. On three occasions, though, teams have been dismissed for just over 100, indicating that the Centurion track might offer some assistance to the bowlers too.
Tournament Stats for Centurion
Runs Balls Run rate Wickets Average
1402 1074 7.83 58 24.17