CLT20 2014: Flops XI

There is no denying that every tournament brings success and failure in equal measure. While match winners receive acclaim and appreciation, the ones who failed at any tournament will be critised for their lack of performances. Here we list out a team out of the underperformers from the recently concluded Champions League T20 2014.Note 1: The motive of this post was not to throw stones at the underachievers.Note 2: The players who were involved in three or more matches excluding the qualifiers are taken into consideration.

#1 Morne van Wyk (c) (wk) - Dolphins

The Protean side was let down by the wicket-keeper batsman everytime as he was unable to shoulder the responsibility of guiding the innings at the top. Being a side that is heavily reliant on the attacking right-hander, the former South African international only managed a couple of 30s from four innings where the team looked up to him for inspiration.

The failures of Tim Paine and Dwayne Smith were largely overshadowed by their teammates’ abundant firepower lower down the order that Dolphins lacked. Cameron Delport as the young opening partner of van Wyk misses out from the Worst XI owing to his strike rate of 280, albeit scoring just 42 runs in four innings.

Considering the fact that the Dolphins failed to win a single game, the 35-year-old graciously qualifies as captain for our team.

#2 Nasir Jamshed - Lahore Lions

Another remarkable failure at the top. Playing for Pakistan’s domestic T20 champions Lions, the left-hander only made 21 runs in the three innings when he batted in the group stages. The worse is that he consumed 32 balls for making those runs albeit venturing out in the powerplays.

The pace at which the Pakistani batted confirms his place as one of the best among the worst.

#3 Daniel Flynn - Northern Knights

The left-hander suffered a sudden dip in form considering his well made half -entury against Lahore Lions in the qualifying stages of the competition. He made a couple of big zeroes against his name in the first two matches against Cape Cobras and Hobart Hurricanes before scoring 33 in the next two innings.

And considering that the Knights lost their last three games convincingly, Flynn’s no show with the bat can be pointed out as the primary reason for the consecutive defeats. A scoring rate of below 100 suggest that he is an ideal fit for our side at the crucial No.3 slot.

#4 Glenn Maxwell - Kings XI Punjab

Yes, you read it right. Glenn Maxwell.

The man who made bowlers resemble a bowling machine in last IPL season experienced a disappointing CLT20. As one would expect, his 89 runs came at a healthy strike rate, but his highly risk-taking stroke play was to blame for his paltry average of 17.80 from 5 innings.

His poor outing as a part-time off-spinner: 7 overs, 53 runs and 1 wicket at 7.57 makes a strong case for his inclusion.

#5 Travis Birt - Hobart Hurricanes

The Australian batted 5 times for the Hurricanes and only managed to score 64 runs at an average of 16.00. With Aiden Blizzard and Shoaib Malik scoring the bulk of the runs at 3 and 4 for the Big Bash side, Birt failed to get going everytime and did not provide the much needed acceleration towards the close.

His only notable contribution was a 21-ball 28 against Kings XI Punjab. That is a very little number to leave with out.

#6 George Bailey - Kings XI Punjab

The Kings XI Punjab skipper reguarly came in at No.6 and failed to produce any impactful innings in the tournament apart from an unbeaten 34 in a winning cause against HH. While it can be argued he never really had the oppourtunity to bat and hitting out is not his strength, he failed in those two innings where he should have stood up as the leader.

The Australian right-hander was also one among the batsman who followed each other to the pavilion in the semifinal against Chennai Super Kings. Lack of runs couple with drought of match winning knocks forces us to pick Kings XI’s main man.

#7 Robin Petersen - Cape Cobras

The Cobras left-arm spinner bowled 13 fruitless overs and ended with two wickets at 57 runs per dismissal. Interestingly, both his two wickets came against Kings XI (2/19). Excluding that all his overs were free scoring ones. His economy rate of 8.76 proves that he never really applied any kind of pressure on the batsman and was always going to be vulnerable.

With him even being promoted in the batting order, the Protean was only able to add 53 runs in four innings. Hence, the 35-year-old comfortably beats Piyush Chawla and Ravindra Jadeja to grab the all-rounder spot.

#8 Jason Holder - Barbados Tridents

If there is anyone who deserves to be labelled as a the ‘flop star’ of CLT20 2014, then it has to be Jason Holder. He conceded runs at 10.61 runs an over in his four matches and failed to produce a wicket. Being the new-ball bolwer for the already depleted Tridents, much was expected from the tall seamer and he never really stood up.

Overall, he conceded 92 runs from 8.4 overs and gave away too many offerings to the batsman. His spectacular underachievements makes him a mandatory pick.

#9 Tim Southee - Northern Knights

The Knights new-ball bowler was less effective as the tournament progressed after impressing everyone in the qualifiers. He was taken to the cleaners almost everytime he rolled his arm over at the death. The Blackcaps seamer’s weak economy rate of 8.85 after four innings was more due to poor bowling rather than good batting.

An average of 121 and a strike rate of 82.00 after 13.4 overs is undoubtedly a below par performance from one of the world’s premier fast bowlers. Having mentioned his numbers, he scores above Kyle Abbot and Vernon Philander to get into the side.

#10 Aviwe Mgijima - Cape Cobras

0/20 (2) v ND in Raipur, 0/13 (1) v HH in Hyderbad, 0/23(2) v BT and 0/8(1) v KXIP – both in Mohali.

The numbers says it all. Four teams, three venues made no difference whatsoever to the rigth-arm seamer’s bowling figures. A total of 64 runs from 6 overs at 10.66 is not a proud record to boast of, but unfortunately that is what the Cobras pacer acheived in the CLT20.

He had no respite against any batsmen and he failed to pick up a single wicket in all 4 innings he bowled. His numbers forced us to go in with a 4-way seam attack.

#11 Trent Boult - Northern Knights

What an tragic turnaround in fortunes it has been for the Kiwi pacer. The left-arm quick was unplayable in the qualifying stages, was extremely dangerous with the new ball and was threatening (1/8 from 2 overs) even in the rain-hit match against Cape Cobras.

On a lighter note, it can be said that the rain completely washed away the good times of Boult and his team as his spells of 0/46 (4), 0/43 (4) and 0/34 (4) in the next three games were extremely low on quality. He lost his rhythm all of a sudden and was offering runs at will, thus ticks all the boxes to be part of our team.