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Who are you backing in the OPL Grand Final?


  • Total voters
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IMO Northern are slightly in the box seat. Vettori should be able to peg Southern back to 6 - 7 an over, putting a lot of pressure on their last few overs. Mills still has four left, and Southee two as well.
 
Well Jayawardene's wicket sums it up, Eagles are in the drivers' seat with 3 overs of Vettori and 2 overs of Southee still remaining.
Go Eagles!!
 
Jaya's wicket was crucial and Vettori just did really wee to get him. Morgan is the key here. A blitz from him and Stallions can get 160
 
Eagles pretty much the favorites now . Dan's the man for them! Stallions should they bat well can still reach 155 though .
 
Grand Final: Chandimal lbw Saga!

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Oceania Premier League
Sponsored by Coca Cola
Grand Final
Southern Stallions v Northern Eagles
AMI Stadium, Christchurch


Over 11: Live

The Chandimal lbw saga

It is the start of the 11th over, and immediately Vettori strikes Sri Lankan Dinesh Chandimal on the pad, trying to sweep. The umpire hesitates for a few moments, before finally deciding to give him out. It looked a good enough decision...

But Chandimal immediately shakes his head and looks back down at his batting partner. With only 1 referral per team allowed in each innings, this is a big call. In the end Chandimal decides to use it, and refers the decision to the third umpire, with a slight gesture to his bat.

So the 3rd umpire's job is try to eradicate any possible reasons it should have been given not out...
First he decides to check whether it was a no ball - despite Vettori bowling no balls more often than a spinner should, thankfully for him he didn't overstep on this occassion. So the umpire decides to use predictive dartfish to see whether height was an issue:


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Well, there is an element of doubt but most likely it would have hit the stumps in terms of height - anyway, there needs to be conclusive evidence to overturn the decision, and this won't provide it. So next he checks Virtual Eye, to make sure the lines were right at all stages:

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It's not looking good for Chandimal - unless there is conclusive proof that he has hit the ball, he will be on his way. So the 3rd umpire looks at Snicko to see when the noises occurred:

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There is no clear evidence he hit the ball, but given Chandimal's reaction it is possible that the ball was squeezed in between his gloves and the pad. To overturn the decision, the TV umpire needs to find something that shows that it hit the glove before the pad, so he looks at hot spot:

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You can see a small white mark on the glove, but although it is quite possible that it did strike the glove before the pad, even using all the technology available, it is impossible to tell. This just goes to show that even with all the gadgets and high-tech paraphernalia available these days, sometimes you can never be sure.

So, as is fair, the umpire's decision stands, and Chandimal must go - although one should have a bit of sympathy for him - judging by his reaction the ball probably did hit his glove before the bat, but you can't make decisions based on batsmen's reactions, so he has to go!


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tweaking ████.. That presentation is the best and will remain the best for quite afew time. You rock JC
 
Grand Final (Overs 11-17): Wickets Hurt Fighting Stallions

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Oceania Premier League
Sponsored by Coca Cola
Grand Final
Southern Stallions v Northern Eagles
AMI Stadium, Christchurch


Overs 11-17: Wickets hurt fighting Stallions

Morgan and Broom up the ante
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Broom cuts his second ball for 4; Morgan goes big against Styris again; Broom is caught well short of his ground

After Chandimal's dismissal, Neil Broom was the new man for the Stallions and he was into it almost immediately - pushing one ball off Vettori to a fielder and then cutting the next one confidently away for a boundary. Morgan meanwhile continued to take a lot of singles, and in between throw everything at the bad balls - in this way he took 9 off Styris' next over, involving 3 singles and a six.

He also looked fairly comfortable against Vettori - occassionally improvising for singles, but all in all he managed to play him safely and still keep up the run rate. However, just as the pair looked to be forming a partnership to really hurt the Eagles, Broom took a tight run to mid on but wasn't quite quick enough and was caught short of his ground after a good throw from the fielder, straight into the bowler's hands, caught him short of his ground.


New partnership starts with a bang
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Nathan McCullum hooks Mills for six; heaves another six in the same over; Morgan continues to hit out against the spinners

Nathan McCullum came in at no. 7 to replace Broom, and wasted little time in making his mark - he took a massive 17 off the first over he faced - poor Kyle Mills was the recipient of another pounding, after twice conceding more than 15 in his only over in previous matches. It wasn't the prettiest cricket but it sure was effective. Although all the runs came from cross bat shots, as the commentators said: "They don't write technique in the scorebook."

This was an over which seemed to give the Stallions the upper hand, as they suddenly reached and went well past the 100 mark, with six overs still to go. Mills would be unlikely to be trusted for another over, so the Eagles were one bowler down - and surely it would be too late for Williamson to be introduced into the attack?


Morgan plays his role but Roach bursts through
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Morgan brings out his signature reverse sweep for the first time; pulls in the air for another 4; McCullum is bowled by Roach

The next couple of overs also belonged to the Stallions, as Morgan seized any opportunity he could to hit a boundary, and took singles off nearly every other ball. He took 9 off Vettori's next over, and then 13 off the following over, bowled by Styris. For the first time of the evening, the crowd got to witness his wristy brilliance, as he whipped out his first reverse sweep and was rewarded with 4. He then pulled the next ball for 6 to really get the better of the bowler.

It was a risky move for Vettori to throw the ball back to Kemar Roach - who had earlier conceded a whopping 28 runs from his first two overs - but he had little choice - Anderson was bowled out, Mills had just lost any confidence he might have had, and it was getting too late in the piece for Williamson. But it turned out to be a good decision anyway - although McCullum managed to hook one more boundary, it was merely a ball before Roach burst through his defenses with a rapid yorker. The Eagles began to get a glimpse of the end - although handy, Harbhajan Singh was not someone the Eagles would really feel threatened by, walking out to bat at number 8.


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OPL Multi-Angle shows how McCullum was dismissed in every way you could hope to see it
 
Grand Final: Morgan closes innings with a bang!

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Oceania Premier League
Sponsored by Coca Cola
Grand Final
Southern Stallions v Northern Eagles
AMI Stadium, Christchurch


Overs 18-20: Stallions finish innings in style

Harbhajan goes but Morgan closes to perfection
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Harbhajan edges one to the keeper; Morgan backs away and late cuts Southee for 4; upper cuts the last ball for another boundary

Tim Southee returned to bowl the 18th over, after giving away very little in his first two overs. And once again, he proved himself to be one of the best death bowlers in the world - in the third to last over of a grand final, he was able to limit two batsmen who were swinging the willow, to just one singe run. Harbhajan wafted away at thin air for his first few deliveries and finally managed to french cut the 5th ball of the over for a single, but even Morgan could only keep out a well directed yorker off Southee's last ball.

Roach bowled the 19th, and again had more success than his first spell - although he would never be able to match Southee in terms of economy rate, he at least got Harbhajan caught behind and only conceded six runs - a single blow from the Indian spinner the ball before he nicked out - and then kept Bond at the strikers end without any addition to the scoreboard for the rest of his over.

Despite Southee's previous three over heroics, he came up against one of the better finishers in world cricket in his fourth and final, and on this occassion came off second best. He seemed to have no answer as Morgan backed away and deflected one fine of third man for a boundary, and later cut one over point for another boundary. In between times Southee slipped a couple down the leg side and then overstepped to give Morgan a free hit for his last ball - which he dealt to over point once more to close off the innings with a 16-run final over.


Innings Statistics

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Despite losing wickets at regular intervals the Stallions were able to scrap for a defendable total

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A mixed bag for the Eagles - patches of economy and wicket taking alike, but no one could put together a full package today

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Skyscraper gives the perfect illustration of how the momentum of the innings shifted
 

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