Tonight at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium in Raipur, Cape Cobras from South Africa will be clashing against the impressive Northern Knights in Match 3 of the OPPO Champions League Twenty20 2014.
Northern Knights team from New Zealand
This is a Group B match in which Cape Cobras are clearly the underdogs after losing three key players – Dale Steyn, JP Duminy and Beuran Hendricks to injuries. The Cape Cobras who were the runners-up of the Ram Slam T20 Challenge 2014 in South Africa face a stiff and a confident opposition in Northern Knights.
Led by Daniel Flynn, Northern Knights seriously look to be the side to defeat in CLT20 2014. They have taken the hard yards of qualifying through for this main draw of the OPPO CLT20 2014. The pink jersey team had won all its three matches in the Qualifying Round beating the Southern Express, the Lahore Lions and lastly defending CLT20 champions – the Mumbai Indians!
Bowling has been superb for the New Zealand domestic team – the Northern Knights. Tim Southee and Trent Boult have been exceptional in swinging and seaming the ball in both directions at brisk speed. And the back up bowling is fabulous as well in Scott Styris who brings all his clever variations while there is also Scott Kuggeleijn with his sharp medium pace to go along with the effective leg-spin of Ish Sodhi.
The batting has also clicked for the Northern Knights with openers Anton Devcich and Kane Williamson looking in great touch. Daryl Mitchell looked awesome against the Mumbai Indians and the rest of the batsmen have all had decent innings in the middle so far. The question is whether the Northern Knights can sustain their momentum going into this main format of CLT20 2014.
The Cape Cobras cannot be ruled out as they have got some big clean hitters like Richard Levi, Captain Justin Ontong and Justin Kemp while Hashim Amla will keep one end steady. The bowling department has four South African internationals in Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Rory Kleinveldt and Charl Langeveldt.
This Group B match – Cape Cobras vs Northern Knights will begin at 8:00 pm IST. The match will come live on Star Sports channels in India. Here is a full list of channels that will be showing the live coverage of CLT20 2014.
Cape Cobras Squad: Richard Levi, Hashim Amla, Stiaan van Zyl, Dane Vilas (WK), Justin Ontong (C), Justin Kemp, Robin Peterson, Vernon Philander, Charl Langeveldt, Rory Kleinveldt, Dane Piedt, Zakhele Qwabe, Omphile Ramela, Aviwe Mgijima
Northern Knights Squad: Anton Devcich, Kane Williamson, Daniel Flynn (C), BJ Watling (WK), Daryl Mitchell, Daniel Harris, Scott Styris, Scott Kuggeleijn, Ish Sodhi, Tim Southee, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Brad Wilson, Graeme Aldridge, Jono Boult