Johannesburg, Oct 20 (IANS) South African team Highveld Lions assured themselves of a place in the semifinal of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament with a five-wicket win over Yorkshire here Saturday.
Quinton de Kock stroked a cool 32 off 35 balls as his team overhauled Yorkshire’s score of 131 for seven with relative ease.
The Lions scored 134 for five in 19.2 overs to record their third win in the competition. They along with Sydney Sixers are tied on 12 points each with Indian Premier League (IPL) side Mumbai Indians a distant third with just two points.
Yorkshire after being put into bat made a fine start with England international Andrew (21) Gale and former Australian opener Phil Jaques (31) taking their team to 50 for no loss in the eight over.
But the downfall started soon enough for the English team. Gale’s wicket opened the floodgate for the South African side as they took three wickets while giving away only 13 runs.
Yorkshire’s middle order batting woes continued with the exception of Adam Lyth, who scored 21 off 17 balls. The rest failed to take advantage of the good start and could manage only 131.
In reply, the Lions lost their two openers Alvaro Petersen (19) and Gulam Bodi (8) early. But impressive youngster, Kock, played a mature innings to take his team closer to the target. A rash shot proved to be his downfall and gave Yorkshire a chance to make a comeback into the game.
A quickfire 25 off 12 balls from Dwaine Pretorious again put the Lions in the front seat. But in his zeal to score quickly he too was dismissed pre-maturely.
After a small stutter, Jean Symes’ late flourish 27 off 22 balls helped his team cross the line.
