Kandurata Maroons beaten again

Thursday, 19 September 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Ryan ten Doeschate’s bruising 64 from 32 broke the back of a mediocre Kandurata Maroons total and all but secured Otago Volts’ place in the Champions League proper, while very nearly damning their opponents to the opposite fate. The match had been set up again by the discipline of

the Otago’s fast men, who kept Kandurata down to 154 for 9, despite the best efforts of Upul Tharanga, who hit 76 from 56. Ten Doeschate had not played the first match of the qualifiers, having not been released in time from Essex to come to India. The match was finely poised at 48 for 2, when he arrived at the crease, but within three overs, he had injected Volt’s innings with the adrenaline that would not abate until the finish. Kandurata’s spinners had prospered in the first ten overs, but legspinner Kaushal Lokuarachchi could extract little turn from the surface and it was off his first three balls that the match pivoted. Ten Doeschate charged the first, striking it long and straight, before hanging back to wallop his second six, over mid on this time. The third six was swept flatter and squarer, and after that 20-run over, Volts needed to only play sensibly to achieve the target. Otago Volts 157 for 4 (ten Doeschate 64, Lokuhettige 3-20) beat Kandurata Maroons 154 for 9 (Tharanga 76, Butler 3-21) by six wickets.