Champions League Twenty20: Five thrilling finishes

Rory-Hamilton Brown of Surrey(R)

4. Eagles v/s Sussex (New Delhi, October 13, 2009)

The Super Over came into play for the first time in this tournament – and it turned out to be as much of a thriller as the game itself, as it was a battle of survival for both protagonists.

Led by pacers CJ de Villiers and Dillon du Preez, the Eagles restricted Sussex to a very modest total – considered below-average even by Twenty20 standards. Joe Gatting, nephew of former England skipper Mike, was the only one to offer any sort of resistance as the British squad struggled to force the pace against disciplined bowling from the Proteas; it looked like the Africans would canter home quite comfortably.

But Sussex’s bowlers had other ideas. Spinners Piyush Chawla and Rory Hamilton-Brown stifled the free-flowing Eagles batsmen – even the well-set Rilee Rossouw was kept at bay. It soon became a question of nerves, as the South African team began losing wickets in their quest to end the game quickly. However, Ryan McLaren smashed Yasir Arafat to the fence off the final delivery to tie the scores and send the match into an eliminator.

Going into the Super Over, the Eagles managed just nine, but de Villiers knocked over Dwayne Smith and Hamilton-Brown to hand his side the win on a low and slow Kotla pitch. Sussex were knocked out of the competition while the Eagles made it to the next round.