The world is coming home - Part II

Group A’s preview is here.

GROUP B

DIAMOND EAGLES

Boeta Dippennaar will be leading the second South African unit in this year’s Champions League T20. The team has a good number of players with excellent Twenty20 experience. Dippenaar himself has a good experience of playing T20 for Leicestershire and for his home team, Eagles.

Dillon du Preez, Ryan McLaren, Morne van Wyk and Thandi Tshabalala could share some excellent experience with a team that is farely unknown. du Preez will be one of the most important weapons this season. His effective all round skills could help Eagles sail through to the next round.

Jandre Coetzee could be a useful resource for Dippenaar. He has a striking economy rate of less than 6 rpo in the game’s shortest format. In his first game of the 2009 Pro20 Series, the deciding leg of the semi-final against Warriors, he sent down a nerveless Superover to secure Eagles a finals berth and passage to India.Along with Cornelius, who bowls really quick, Eagles can be a very good bowling unit. Dean Elgar and Rilee Rossouw will take care of the spin department in conditions that would aid spin bowling. Both of them are excellent fielders inside the circle and will save lots of runs.

The Knight Riders’ experience should do good for South African batsman, Morne van Wyk. His batting will also be central for Eagles’ success in this editions Champions League T20. They are up against, two quality sides from Australia and England. With matches that can never be predicted easily, Eagles should definitely look to use most of their fast-bowling proficiency in this tournament.

Spin bowling will definitely be a weakness for this South African side and it remains to be seen how they are going to manage this issue.

DIAMOND EAGLES SQUAD – Boeta Dippenaar, Ryan Bailey, Jandre Coetzee, Dillon du Preez, Cornelius de Villiers, Dean Elgar, Reeza Hendricks, Alan Kruger, Adrian McLaren, Ryan McLaren, Victor Mpitsang, Rilee Rossouw, Thandi Tshabalala, Shadley van Schalwyk, Morne van Wyk.

PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR – Morne van Wyk, Ryan McLaren and Dean Elgar

NEW SOUTH WALES BLUES

Teams from Australia are always competitive, and this side led by Simon Katich is no mug either. The KFC Twenty20 championship that takes place in Australia can be rated equally with the IPL as well as with the Twenty20 championship in England. The dearth of the talent in Australia is one reason why the quality remains high even in Australia’s domestic tournaments.

The Blues are a bunch of established international cricketers and domestic cricketers who would soon make it to the national squad. Philip Hughes gets a big opportunity to get back his test position. In fact, a stern performance here would also illuminate his chances to grab the opening slot in ODIs and T20s. Australia’s latest batting sensation, David Warner is another important batsman in the Blues’ line up.

Apart from Warner and Hughes, the batting heavily relies on Simon Katich and Dominic Thornely. This is where most teams would try to sneak in a chance.

Hauritz will lead the spin attack in India. Steeve O’Keefe and Steven Smith could add to the variety in the spin bowling department for the Blues with their left-arm orthodox and leg-breaks respectively.

NSW

Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger and Stuart Clark will be led by Australian spearhead, Brett Lee. The star power of Brett Lee will be good enough for the crowds to rush into stadiums at Hyderabad, Delhi and Bangalore. Lee’s experience in India will help grooming fast bowlers like Aaron Bird. Bollinger and Clark have made a few trips to the subcontintent before and this would only help them assess the conditions better.

NSW Blues are sure to miss the services of Clarke, Bracken and Haddin in this tournament. Clarke was in wonderful form with the bat when the injury occurred. Haddin had an excellent one-day series when Australia last toured India in 2007. Bracken knows the conditions very well and operates with intelligence.

On the whole, this Australian outfit looks slightly weak in the middle order without the likes of Michael Clarke and Brad Haddin. But, it’s over compensated by the top-order of the Blues.

NEW SOUTH WALES BLUES SQUAD – Simon Katich, Aaron Bird, Doug Bollinger, Stuart Clark, Nathan Hauritz, Moises Henriques, Philip Hughes, Somin Keen, Brett Lee, Steve O’Keefe, Ben Rohrer, Daniel Smith, Steven Smith, Dominic Thornely, David Warner

PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR – David Warner, Brett Lee, Moises Henriques

SUSSEX SHARKS

Sussex possess a team that is very much international as much as it is local. Players like Piyush Chawla, Yasir Arafat, Dwayne Smith will make the team even more stronger. Arafat, especially was unplayable in the recently concluded Twenty20 tournament in England. Piyush Chawla, meanwhile, looked to resurrect his career with Sussex when he was not part of the Indian squad. Dwayne Smith, one of the biggest hitters in the world stage currently, is one bomb waiting to explode. Smith has good experience with IPL teams in the past. He has served for both Mumbai Indians and for this year’s champions, Deccan Chargers. Much like, Gibbs, it would be interesting to see how the Hyderabad crowd receive Dwayne Smith if he plays a match against Chargers in Hyderabad.

Sussex do have a strong batting line up with Ed Joyce, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Luke Wright, Chris Nash and Michael Yardy in addition to the ever explosive, Dwayne Smith. Piyush Chawla and Yasir Arafat can also contribute equally with the bat in the lower order. However, if they are chasing scores in excess of 170, Smith’s services could be needed more.

The bowling also looks completely potent to defend any total. A much improved James Kirtley will most probably share the new ball with Arafat. Kirtley has two very good deliveries up his sleeve for this format. His slower deliveries are very hard to pick. And he also whizzes a few fast yorkers at will. Luke Wright and Dwayne Smith will also do a very good supporting role in the middle for the spinners, Chawla and Yardy.

A completely balanced team, Sussex will be having a good challenge against Katich’s NSW Blues and Dippenaar’s Eagles.

SUSSEX SHARKS SQUAD – Michael Yardy, Will Beer, Ben Brown, Piyush Chawla, Joe Gatting, Rory Hamilton-Brown, Andy Hodd, Ed Joyce, Chad Keegan, James Kirtley, Robin Martin-Jenkins, Chris Nash, Luke Wright and Yasir Arafat.

PLAYERS TO WATCH OUT FOR – Dwayne Smith, Michael Yardy, James Kirtley