Katich and Clarke rates Champions League victory highly

New South Wales Blues captain Simon Katich rates his team’s triumph in the Champions League Twenty20 in India as one of the proudest moment of his career. Katich whose international career spans almost a decade playing 43 Test matches and 45 One-day internationals said, “I’m very proud of everyone. We needed everyone firing and everyone did a great job right through the tournament. It’s certainly one of the proudest moments I’ve had in my cricketing career.”

New South Wales beat Trinidad and Tobago by a margin of 41 runs to win the final. The Blues lost only one match during the entire tournament against the same opponents in the second stage but came back strongly in the semi-final and final. Katich was praised by many for his captaincy during the tournament. One of his master strokes was the decision to open the bowling with spinners Nathan Hauritz and Steven Smith in the semi-final and final.

Stuart Clarke another member of the victorious team said he ranks the win as one of his best. “I think international cricket is always the pinnacle. The Ashes series in Australia is my greatest cricket memory and achievement, I only played one game in the World Cup (2007) but for most people that is second and this to me runs third, but it is a very close battle between one, two and three.” He felt the success means a lot to many other players in the team.

“This win meant so much for all the NSW people sitting at Moore Park and for all the young guys in our team, some who may never play international cricket. This is the highlight of their careers and they will thoroughly remember it.” Clarke pointed out Moises Henriques and Steven Smith as future Australian cap holders. “Moises’ improvement shows day by day and he is going to be an Australian player as soon as there is a spot available.” Commenting on his young teammate Clarke said “Steve Smith is on his way too. You would think the writing is on the wall for a 20-year-old who can bowl leg breaks, given there are not too many leg-break bowlers around in the country. Then there is Phil Hughes and David Warner, sometimes they need a bit of guidance but they are super players with super talent.”

Focus shifts to T20 Champions League

After the successful conclusion of the second edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in South Africa, the focus is now shifts to the Champions League T20 2009. The tournament will be held in India from October 8 – 23, featuring 12 teams instead of the originally planned eight teams. Lalit Modi, the tournament chairman said that the venues will be finalised after the draw, which will be held in London on June 23, 2009.

The winners of the domestic Twenty20 tournaments from New Zealand, West Indies and Sri Lanka, along with the third placed Delhi Daredevils in IPL 2009, will participate in addition to the finalists from India (IPL), South Africa, Australia and England. There will be a total of 23 matches, and the teams will be divided into four groups of three each to play on a league basis before the top two teams from each group move on to the second stage. The four top teams from there will play the semi-finals.

Teams who have booked their berth are the Deccan Chargers, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils from India, Victoria and New South Wales from Australia, Cape Cobras and Eagles from South Africa, Wayamba from Sri Lanka, Trinidad and Tobago from West Indies and Otago from New Zealand. The teams from England are yet to be decided as the final of the ongoing Twenty20 Cup is scheduled for August 25. Delhi qualified on the basis of having topped the league stage of IPL 2009.

The tournament was originally scheduled to take place during December 2008 in Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore, but was later cancelled due to terror attacks in Mumbai. The teams which qualified in 2008 – Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Titans, Dolphins, Western Australia are not eligible this year.