END OF OVER:20 | 10 Runs | OTAGO: 167/7 (1 run required, RR: 8.35)
- Neil Wagner5 (6b)
- James Neesham52 (25b)
- Sohail Tanvir4-0-35-1
- Hardus Viljoen4-0-23-1
Oh, what a finish. In the end it all came down to one more boundary hit by Otago, a most cruel way to decide a cricket match. There was nothing separating these teams after the Super Over, but for one extra boundary. Otago's streak stays alive, Lions have a lot to ponder, and we quickly move to the next game. Thanks for joining us
Quotes from the presentation
"It was a brilliant game of cricket," says Brendon McCullum. "Could have gone either way. very fortunate to come on the right side of it. Thanks to a brilliant innings from James Neesham. I wasn't calm. Three dots in the Super Over wouldn't have gone down well. Superb bowling from Tanvir. In the end I managed to get one away. We weren't perfect. We didn't bowl as well as we should, but we will take the points."
"Everyone has their day," says Jimmy Neesham. "I guess today was my day. Did I seem calm? It might just have been on the surface. I think this is the biggest day, will stay in my memory for a while."
As we catch our collective breath, a moment to reflect on how the two big heroes just completely broke down under pressure. First came de Kock the keeper's fumble off the last ball of the regulation match. Then Neesham bowled a pretty ordinary Super Over, bowling four length ball,s three of them wides. Then came two full tosses. He was fortunate that Symes and de Kock lost their heads too. Just hang in for the presentation then
Tuhinanshu: "It was match of two young guns. Neesham and De Kock. It was sad to see De Kock in that state after playing almost the match winning innings in that team but as he said -"That is cricket. It's hard." But Otago's streak is alive. Go Volts :D"
And we had de Kock talking. He must be heart-broken. "It is difficult," he says. "I came here and tried to do my best for the team. It is tough to lose after getting the runs. I finally scored some runs in the subcontinent. I have been working on my game. It was about time it paid off."
Alviro Petersen says, "This is the worst I have seen the Lions bowl. We don't have a lot of international players, we rely on every single player to perform well, but it didn't come together well."
*** Tanvir to bowl another over. The Super Over is about to begin. I am assuming Brendon McCullum and Jimmy Neesham will bat for Otago. Lions' nominated batsmen are de Kock, Symes and Pretorious. Otago yet to come out of their dressing room. I see Neesham and BMac. Hamish Rutherford is the third man, and not Ryan ten Doeschate
What a result here. Quite incredibly, the regulation wicketkeeper, Thami Tsolikile, had asked Quinton de Kock to stand up to the stumps to prevent the bye. Sohail Tanvir, though, asked him to go back. De Kock still couldn't collect it cleanly. And it was de Kock whose century gave Lions that fighting total