Champions League T20 : Auckland Aces vs Perth Scorchers - As it happened..

Zeenews Sports Bureau

Scorecard »Match Report»I Brief Summary: Auckland Aces’ defeat to Perth Scorchers means that they stay at six points. Delhi Daredevils with ten points and Nashua Titans with eight qualify automatically for the semi-finals. The match between Delhi Daredevils and Nashua Titans will only decide the opponents for both teams in the semi finals. Auckland Aces innings: Over 20 || Score 124/8 Hopkins is bowled by Beer. Ronnie Hira comes to the crease at the fall of the wicket. Colin de Grandhomme smashes a short ball from Coulter-Nile over square leg for a six and follows it up with a boundary over mid-off. Hira tries to paddle one and misses a straight bowl that smashes onto the stumps. Kyle Mills comes to the crease at the fall of Hira’s wicket. Munro misses an attempted slog off a full delivery and that’s plumb in front. Michael Bates joins Mills in what will be an uphill task and a nearly impossible one. Perth Scorchers win by 16 runs. GJ Hopkins b Beer 9 (12b) RM Hira b Mennie 2 (3b) C Munro lbw b Mennie 23 (18b) Over 15 || Score 87/5 Hogg picks up the wicket of Kitchen who holds out to deep mid wicket. Gibbs takes a stunning catch at cover to dismiss Azhar Mahmood off the bowling of Beer. This could well and truly prove to be the decisive moment of the match. Colin de Grandhomme replaces Mahmood. Grandhomme finds himself short while trying to take a needless run. The wicket brings skipper Gareth Hopkins to the crease. Perth Scorchers have tightened the screws a little on the Aces. AK Kitchen c Coulter-Nile b Hogg 6 (6b) Azhar Mahmood c Gibbs b Beer 24 (21b) C de Grandhomme run out 4 (4b) Over 10 || Score 62/2 Guptill finally gets one off the middle of his bat. Smashes one straight over the bowler’s head for a boundary. Guptill pounces on a short one from Hogg towards deep mid wicket and that goes for a four. Mahmood smashes Collingwood for three equally elegant boundaries in one over. Guptill sweeps a Hogg delivery over mid wicket for a six. Guptill perishes as he tries to hoik Beer but only manages to edge it to Ronchi who completes a sharp catch. Anaru Kitchen joins Mahmood at the crease. Auckland are beginning to catch up on the required run rate although Guptill’s wicket was a big blow. MJ Guptill c †Ronchi b Beer 36 (32b) Over 5 || Score 17/1 Lou Vincent and Martin Guptill to start the innings for Auckland Aces. Ryan Duffield gets the breakthrough in the fourth over. Lou Vincent slashes at one outside the off stump and is comfortably taken by Ronchi behind the stumps. The wicket brings in form Azhar Mahmood to the crease. Mahmood smashes one straight past the bowler for a four. The first five overs have been dominated by Perth Scorchers who have struggled to get going. L Vincent c Ronchi b Duffield 2 (9b) Over 20 || Score 140/7 Tom Beaton is bowled by a lovely Yorker from Bates. Ronchi also falls in pursuit of a few quick runs. Collingwood commits the cardinal sin of not sliding his bat in and finds himself short of the crease on an attempted second run. Brad Hogg finishes the innings with a four towards sweeper cover. Michael Bates finishes with four wickets and Collingwood is the highest scorer for Perth Scorchers with 38 runs. TM Beaton b Bates 22 (19b) L Ronchi c Guptill b Bates 4 (6b) PD Collingwood run out 38 (27b) Mennie c Hira b Bates 2 (2b) Over 15 || Score 98/3 Katich has been bowled by Hira. Tom Beaton joins Collingwood at the crease. Collingwood has played a few wonderful shots and has already struck four boundaries. SM Katich b Hira 21 (23b) Over 10 || Score 62/2 North and Katich were beginning to build a good partnership. North in particular was looking very fluent in his shot making but was run out in the last ball of the tenth over. Collingwood has now joined Katich to continue the fight. MJ North run out 37 (35b) Over 5 || Score 24/1 Perth have lost Gibbs who hit one straight to mid off in the fourth ball off the second over. Katich replaces him. Marcus North has looked solid and has played a few delightful shots. Perth Scorchers looking to consolidate and build up a partnership. HH Gibbs c Munro b Bates 6 (6b) Over 1 || Score 1/0 Kyle Mills to begin proceedings for the Auckland Aces. Herschelle Gibbs and Marcus North to open the batting for the Perth Scorchers. Gibbs gets off the mark with a drive wide of mid off. Tight first over bowled only one run off it. Toss: Perth Scorchers won the toss and have elected to bat first Auckland Aces face Perth Scorchers in a Group A encounter in match 19 of the Champions League T20 in Supersport Park Centurion. Auckland Aces are still in contention for a semi-final berth. They need to beat Perth Scorchers convincingly to keep alive their hopes of making it to the semi-final. Perth Scorchers are already out of the tournament and are playing for pride. They are the only team in the group not to have won a single game.