Williamson shows class in Knights win
Remember the school of thought that had Kane Williamson pegged as someone not suitable for Twenty20 cricket?
Yeah, best not to dwell on that for too long.
Williamson sparked the Northern Knights to a winning start over Sri Lanka’s Southern Express in the Champions League Twenty20 competition yesterday morning (NZ time) with a typically classy knock.
Williamson has been temporarily banned from bowing his off-spin by the ICC, but his skills with the bat were still glaringly obvious as he made an inventive and composed 52 off only 29 balls.
That helped the SkyCity Knights chase down their rivals’ tally of 92-5 – compiled off 10 overs in a reduced match – with three balls and seven wickets up their sleeve in Raipur.
‘‘It’s a great start for the boys,’’ said Williamson, who opened for the Knights in their chase.
‘‘Obviously there was a few nerves going into the first game on the big stage I suppose, and it was nice to come through those and play with the confidence that we know we can and get a win.’’
The nerves showed in the field as last year’s domestic New Zealand champs missed a string of chances that looked set to allow the Sri Lankan side to compile a very testing target.
But Ish Sodhi and Trent Boult starred with the ball before Williamson – a master of playing spin bowling – dominated with the bat.
He opened in tandem with left-hander Anton Devcich and with the pair striking cleanly from the outset, the Knights were always nicely in tune with the required run-rate.
Williamson displayed outstanding placement, striking seven fours and a six, and while he got out the ball after he’d brought up his half-century, he’d done enough to seal a critical win.
‘‘It was nice to be able to contribute like that,’’ the Black Caps star said.
‘‘A Ten-10 game can be quite fickle, so it was nice to hit a couple out of the middle and put together partnerships.’’
Williamson said he felt 10 runs an over was probably a par score.
‘‘And if you bat well, you’d like to think you could score that yourself. If you lose early wickets up front, 10 an over can blow out quite quickly.’’
The match was reduced to 10 overs per side after heavy rain drenched the outfield and although Knights skipper Daniel Flynn won the toss and chose to bowl with an arsenal that featured test spearheads Trent Boult and Tim Southee, the fielding side was quickly put under pressure.
Kusal Perera punished anything too full, racing to 23 off just nine balls but should have gone in the second over, had Scott Kuggeleijn caught an easy chance at mid-on from Southee’s bowling.
Further chances went begging but Black Caps test leggie Ish Sodhi – still a relative T20 rookie – proved critical in stemming the damage and allowing the Knights to get back in the game.
While he was also guilty of a missed caught and bowled, Sodhi found excellent length and flight and went for just five runs off his maximum two-over spell.
Perera made 37 off 20 balls, featuring seven fours, while opening partner Danushka Gunathilaka added 39 off 26 (two fours and three sixes).
But Boult took two wickets while conceding just four runs in the penultimate
Kane Williamson has proved his T20 doubters wrong again.
SCOREBOARD
MDJK Perera c Boult b Styris 37 MD Gunathilkaka b Boult 39 S Prasanna run out 7 J Mubarak c Watling b Boult 1 AK Perera c Devcich b Southee 1 M Maharoof not out 0 Extras (3lb, 4w) 7 Total (for 5 wkts) off 10 overs 92 Fall: 55, 83, 85, 91, 92 Bowling: T Boult 2-0-12-2, T Southee 2-0-20-1 (1w), S Kuggeleijn 1-0-11-1 (2w), S Styris 2-0-18-1, I Sodhi 2-0-10-0, A Devcich 1-0-18-0 K Williamson b Maharoof 52 A Devcich c MDK Perera b Maharoof 14 D Flynn c MDKJ Perera b MDK Perera 14 D Harris not out 10 S Styris not out 4 Extras (1lb 1w) 2 Total (for 3 wkts) off 9.3 overs 96 Fall: 41, 74, 86 Bowling: MDK Perera 2-0-11-1, S Prasanna 1-0-14-0, MD Gunathilaka 1-0-19-0, MF Maharoof 2-0-14-2 (1w), WMC Jayampathi 2-0-18-0, SS Pathirana 1.3-0-19-0 Win to Northern Knights by 7 wickets. over and ended with 2-12 off two while Southee also produced a tight last over.
‘‘Ish’s first over was huge really – they got off to a flying start,’’ Williamson said.
‘‘It was pretty good to get that over under my belt,’’ Sodhi said.
‘‘A few dots were good. It would have been nice to hold on to that catch and maybe it would have been even a smaller target to chase.’’
The Knights were scheduled to play the Lahore Lions overnight, with another win likely to be enough to get them through from the four-team qualifying round-robin event to make the main group stage.
In yesterday’s other match, Lahore upset the Mumbai Indians by six wickets. The Knights meet Mumbai in their final round-robin match on Wednesday morning (NZ time).
For coverage of last night’s match, go to waikatotimes.co.nz