Highveld Lions qualify for semi-finals - MI & CSK out of the competition

Highveld Lions defeated Yorkshire comfortably by five wickets in a Group B encounter of the ongoing Champions League Twenty20 , which effectively dashed the hopes of two IPL teams, defending champions Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings.

 

The Lions victory means both Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings are out of the tournament, and later today's IPL derby between the two sides have now been reduced to a dead rubber.

 

The Lions, with three wins from four games, have now joined Sydney Sixers as the other team from Group B in the semi-finals. Both the teams have 12 points in their kitty.

 

A victory for Yorkshire against Lions today could have opened up the group, but now Mumbai and Chennai have become the third IPL team after reigning IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders to crash out of the event.

 

Against Yorkshire everything went according to the script for the home team.

 

Opting to ball, the Lions first restricted Yorkshire to a modest 131 for seven and then chased down the target, reaching 134 for five, with four balls to spare.

 

Young Quinton de Cock top-scored for the Lions with 32 that came off 35 balls with the help of two fours and as many sixes.

 

Even though the Lions panicked a little bit towards the end, Jean Symes (27 not out off 22) and Dwaine Pretorious (25 off 14) played useful cameos to take side home. 

 

Needing 20 runs off 12 balls, Symes hit Oliver Hannon-Dalby for a six and a four to pick 14 runs off the penultimate over. Symes then finished off the match in style, clobbering Steven Patterson for back-to-back boundaries.

 

Earlier sent into bat, Yorkshire could only manage 131 for seven in their 20 overs.

 

Skipper Andrew Gale (21) and Phil Jacques (31) shared 54 runs for the opening stand before Yorkshire's innings fell apart.

 

Adam Lyth (21) and Gary Ballance (17) also made useful contributions but it was not good enough to take the English outfit to a challenging score.

 

Pakistani pacer Sohail Tanvir (2/25) and left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso scalped two wickets apiece for the Lions. (PTI)