Sydney Sixers start outright favourites by Asher Wilson

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Scorecard:	Sydney Sixers v Yorkshire
Event:	Champions League 2012/13

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DateLine: 16th October 2012

 

Sydney Sixers vs Yorkshire
Match Preview
Champions League 2012

 

The in-form Sydney Sixers start outright favourites but will have to guard against complacency when they take on spirited English qualifiers Yorkshire in their second Group B encounter of the Champions League Twenty20 at Cape Town today.

 

Big Bash champions, Sydney, defeated IPL runner-ups, Chennai Super Kings, to make a resounding start in the event on Sunday. It was a clinical performance by Sydney in their lung-opener with the top half of their batting line-up playing its role to perfection.

 

Australia's World T20 Player of the Tournament, all-rounder Shane Watson seems to be unstoppable while turning up for Sydney as well and was the second highest scorer the other night with 46 runs in 30 balls besides taking a wicket with the ball. The news that will disappoint the Sixers squad is that Shane Watson has been ordered home by Cricket Australia ahead of the International series with South Africa and although he remains available for a game or two, it remains to be seen if his focus will be affected in this fixture.

 

Another all-rounder who made an impression against Chennai was Moises Henriques. He top-scored with a 49 and picked up three wickets with his medium pace which was an impressive effort that fetched him the Man of the Match trophy. Sydney's captain Brad Haddin would also be keen to get this unit to perform and he will have the support of their overseas Internationals Michael Lumb and Nathan McCullum. Brad Haddin could be facing a test axing as he and Matthew Wade fight over the wicket keeping spot for the squad and Haddin needs a few more contributions to tell selectors he is in form and is ready to score runs. T20 cricket isn't Haddin's strength when getting the big scores but as he displayed against Chennai, he is capable of the big shots as he can hit quite a few boundaries.

 

Yorkshire, on the other hand, don't have any big names to flaunt on paper but as an unit, the side impressed in its qualifying campaign by winning both the matches to ease into the main draw.

 

After the withdrawal of England International player Jonny Bairstow, Yorkshire were left with a weak batting line up. In their first qualifier with Uva Next, South African David Miller’s superb performance helped carry his side over the line. Gary Ballance is a very underrated player in this form of the game and his 64 clinched the second qualifier against Trinidad and Tobago. Andrew Gale is yet to show what he is made off as he was not able to covert his form into a run scoring machine during the qualifiers but the top-order's form remains a concern for Yorkshire. Adil Rashid found some excellent form in the qualifying games.

 

Ryan Sidebottom is well past his best but he still remains a key figure in this Yorkshire side as a genuine wicket taker. Sidebottom respectively took 4 wickets from the 2 qualifiers which assisted Yorkshire in progressing to the main draw.

 

As far as the overall result is concerned, Yorkshire do look vulnerable with a weakened batting line up and a long tail.

 

Sydney Sixers: BJ Haddin, PJ Cummins, JR Hazlewood, MC Henriques, MJ Lumb, NL McCullum, NJ Maddinson, IA Moran, PM Nevill, SNJ O'Keefe, BJ Rohrer, SPD Smith, MA Starc, DJ Thornely, SR Watson

 

Yorkshire: AW Gale, MA Ashraf, Azeem Rafiq, GS Ballance, OJ Hannon-Dalby, DM Hodgson, PA Jaques, A Lyth, DA Miller, SA Patterson, AU Rashid, JE Root, RJ Sidebottom, I Wardlaw, E Wilson

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
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