ADELAIDE, Australia, CMC – West Indies batsman Kieron Pollard smashed a belligerent half-century and grabbed two wickets to propel South Australia Redbacks to a 91-run crushing of Victoria Bushrangers in the Twenty20 Big Bash yesterday.
The right-handed Pollard won the showdown with his Trinidadian and West Indies teammate Dwayne Bravo, as he carved out a 22-ball 52 and then returned to snatch two for eight to put the hosts one step closer to the final of the tournament.
Bravo, meanwhile, struggled. He went wickeless in three overs that cost 40 runs and then scored just seven from a similar number of balls.
Behind Pollard’s fireworks, South Australia reached 202 for seven from their allotted 20 overs after winning the toss and batting at the Adelaide Oval.
Fast bowler Shaun Tait then claimed three for 12 to shock Victoria and help reduce them to 111 all out off 14 overs. Amazingly, Tait was given the Man-of-the-Match award, despite Pollard’s superb all-round display.
Daniel Harris slammed 48 from 33 balls and Graham Manou stroked 21 from 11 balls, to give South Australia a rousing start of 56 from just 27 balls.
After both were dismissed, the innings stumbled to 120 for five in the 14th over before Pollard took charge. He blasted three fours and four gigantic sixes in posting 45 from 27 balls for the sixth wicket with Cameron Borgas who scored 21.
Pollard then added a further 37 from 13 deliveries for the seventh wicket with Daniel Christian (eight not out) before he was run out off the final ball of the innings.
Andrew McDonald (2-25), John Hastings (2-30), Clint McKay (2-47) all picked up two wickets apiece.
The Redbacks were given a dream start when Tait grabbed the wickets of Brad Hodge (0), captain Cameron White (0) and David Hussey (14) to reduce Victoria to 20 for four in the third over. Bravo looked ominous when he lofted the fourth ball he faced over wide long on for four but could not sustain his good form in the tournament when he was run out in the eighth over after being sent back by top-scorer Aaron Finch.
