HIGHVELD LIONS BEAT DD BY 22 RUNS TO ENTER CLT20 FINAL

DURBAN: Kevin Pietersen waged a lone battlebut Delhi Daredevils simply lacked the firepower as they lost to Highveld Lions by 22 runs in the first semi-final of the Champions League Twenty20 here today.

On a bouncy Kingsmead pitch, Highveld Lions got a decent 139 for five which was par for the course and then restricted Daredevils to only 117 for nine.

With Daredevils' defeat, the challenge of IPL teams in this edition ended on a disappointing note.

The Daredevils batsmen save Pietersen who scored 50 off 44 balls, looked in utter discomfort against Lions attack especially pacer Chris Morris. Morris bowled fast and straight as he gave away only seven runs in four overs taking prize wickets of David Warner and Pietersen.

Morris and find of the tournament left-arm spinner Aaron Phangiso (2/17) gave away only 25 runs in the eight overs between them getting four wickets in the process. That was decisive although Daredevils never looked like being in the match once they started batting. Virender Sehwag lasted only one delivery as he decided to loft the Sohail Tanveer straightaway but only managed to offer rival skipper Alviro Peterson an easy catch. Warner, playing his first match of the tournament started with couple of boundaries off Dirk Nannes -- a flick and then a pull in-front of square. Pietersen then got his first boundary off Tanveer with another pull-shot. Brief Scores: Lions 139/5 (G Bodi 50, N McKenzie 46 no, U Yadav 2/20) Delhi Daredevils 117/9 (Kevin Pietersen 50, C Morris 2/7, A Phangiso 2/17). Lions won by 22 runs. PTI