Otago Volts shut out a fighting Highveld Lions in their Group A Champions League T20 thriller here on Sunday afternoon, beating the South Africans by a boundary in the Super Over. It was a tale of two heroes on the day, Lions’ Quinton de Kock (109 not out, 63 balls) and James Neesham (52 balls, 25 balls) of Otago, both of whom played their hearts out in an entertaining encounter. With the teams tied at 167 each after their 50 overs, Lions turned to Sohail Tanvir to bowl the Super Over. Neesham and Brendon McCullum managed to collect 13; leaving Lions to score 14 for what would have been their first win of the tournament. De Kock seemed up for the job collecting 11 off the first three balls, but the Lions lost their way from there. Needing just three off the final three balls, Jeans Symes fell on the very first delivery he faced, while Dwaine Pretorius was run out on the final ball of the Super Over (13/2). Otago won on last ball countback, McCullum’s six becoming the deciding stroke of the game, while the Lions ended their campaign with just two points from four games. Earlier, Neesham sparkled with his 25-ball 52 to take the fight to the wire. Otago were in trouble at 103/6 in 14.4 overs) when Neesham came up with his crucial knock. The Lions’ innings was all about opener de Kock, who played fearlessly. Undeterred by the regular fall of wickets on the other end, he displayed a calm approach. Slow off the blocks, de Kock broke free after the 13th over — Lions were 79/3 then — slamming sixes and fours as he raced to his half century. The carnage continued as he revelled in the company of Symes as they raised 76 in just 37 balls for the fourth wicket. De Kock brought up his hundred in the final over, guiding Lions to 167/4. Scoreboard Lions: R. van der Dussen lbw b McMillan 17, Q. de Kock (not out) 109, T. Bavuma st de Boorder b Beard 13, A. Petersen lbw b Beard 0, J. Symes c de Boorder b Wagner 20, D. Pretorius (not out) 2. Extras (lb2, w2, nb2) 6, Total (for 4 wkts; in 20 overs) 167. FoW: 1-44, 2-73, 3-73, 4-149. Bowling: Butler 3-0-27-0, McMillan 4-0-23-1 (1w), Wagner 3-0-25-1 (1nb), Neesham 3-0-28-0, McCullum 4-0-31-0 (1w), Beard 3-0-31-2. Otago: N. Broom c Viljoen b O’Reilly 6, H. Rutherford c de Kock b Imran Tahir 32, B. McCullum c Sohail Tanvir b Tsotsobe 5, D. de Boorder c Bavuma b Imran Tahir 32, R. ten Doeschate c Petersen b Tsotsobe 9, J. Neesham not out 52, N. McCullum c Petersen b Viljoen 0, I. Butler b Sohail Tanvir 9, N. Wagner (not out) 5. Extras (b1, lb10, w4, nb2) 17, Total (for 7 wkts; in 20 overs) 167. FoW: 1-16, 2-27, 3-78, 4-97, 5-101, 6-103, 7-136. Bowling: Tanvir 4-0-35-1 (2w), O’Reilly 4-0-40-1 (2nb, 2w), Tsotsobe 4-0-30-2, Viljoen 4-0-23-1, Imran Tahir 4-0-28-2. Super Over (on last ball count back): Otago 13/0: 1 (4), 2 (1), 3 (0), 4 (1b), 5(1), 6(6). Lions 13/2: 1(4), 2 (6), 3 (1), 4 (out), 5 (1), 6 (1, run out).
