Sabres blunted by Eagles

Durston: maiden T20 half-century went unrewarded

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Champions League T20 - League A
Hyderabad
Somerset Sabres 132-8 (W J Durston 57, C J D de Villiers 4-17) v Diamond Eagles 133-5
Diamond Eagles beat Somerset Sabres by 5 wkts

Somerset Sabres slumped to a five-wicket loss against Diamond Eagles to push them to the brink of elimination from the Champions League Twenty20.

The Sabres, without vice-captain Marcus Trescothick after he returned home from the tournament on Thursday due to a recurrence of his stress-related illness, made 132-8 after opting to bat first on a dry, grassless pitch in Hyderabad.

The Eagles, led by opener Morne Van Wyk's 47, overhauled their target with eight balls to spare.

Van Wyk shared stands worth 31 and 49 with Boeta Dippenaar and Ryan Bailey for the third and fourth wickets respectively after Charl Willoughby had struck twice with the new ball to give Somerset hope.

Rilee Rossouw (13) and Adrian McLaren (13) both skied catches off Willoughby (2-29) to leave the Eagles on 46-2 in the sixth over.

But Van Wyk, initially in the company of his skipper Dippenaar (18) and then alongside Bailey, took the South Africans to the brink of victory.

Van Wyk and Bailey (29) fell with the finish line in sight but the Eagles comfortably got home in the penultimate over.

Recovery

A sixth-wicket partnership of 77 between Wes Durston and James Hildreth had earlier saved Somerset from complete embarrassment.

CJD de Villiers removed Craig Kieswetter (8) and Arul Suppiah (0), both lbw, in the second over the innings to spark a collapse that saw the Sabres subside to 52-5 after nine overs.

Paceman De Villiers also accounted for Zander de Bruyn (2), while off-spinner Thandi Tshabalala (1-18) sneaked his first delivery through Justin Langer's (12) defences and Peter Trego (6) was brilliantly held in his follow through by seamer Alan Kruger (1-14).

But Durston and Hildreth, both products of Millfield School, turned things around with an inventive stand spanning 56 deliveries.

Durston, only playing in the match due to Trescothick's absence, was the main aggressor with 57 off 32 balls, including 10 fours.

He became De Villiers' (4-17) fourth victim with 10 balls of the innings remaining and Jandre Coetzee (2-24) dismissed Ben Phillips (0) and Hildreth (31 off 40 balls) in the final over as Somerset finished with a whimper.

The Sabres must now win their final League A game against the New South Wales Blues on Sunday and hope the Eagles lose to Trinidad and Tobago on the same day to have any chance of making the last four.