Blues through as Sharks fall short
Phil Hughes and Moises Henriques struck unbeaten half-tons as New South Wales steamed into the second round of the Airtel CL T20.
The Australian outfit, NSW secured a 35-run win over the Sussex Sharks in New Delhi on Sunday.
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Left-handed opener Hughes made a painstaking 62 - and Henriques, promoted up the order ahead of captain Simon Katich, contributed a far more fluent 51 as New South Wales finished with a decent 130 for two on a slow surface.
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Henriques followed up with three for 23 with the ball as Sussex's reply mustered only 95 for eight.
Top Performer: Moises Henriques
Hughes and opening partner David Warner struggled at the start, both barely surviving as deliveries stayed low and regularly beat the edge.
Day's action in pics
But they grafted 35 for the first wicket before Warner was brilliantly run out by a direct hit from Dwayne Smith at gully.
NSW's wicketkeeper-batsman Daniel Smith was promoted to number three - only to fall in Piyush Chawla's first over.
Henriques then joined Hughes and began his innings briskly, injecting much-needed momentum into the innings.
Henriques was survived on eight when Rory Hamilton-Brown put down a difficult chance at short extra-cover - and the 22-year-old celebrated by clubbing Chawla for his first six in an over which cost the leg-spinner 17.
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Hughes reached his half-century and was dropped immediately afterwards by Ed Joyce at midwicket, standing in as captain for the ill Michael Yardy.
Man of the Match interview
Sussex gave Henriques a second reprieve, this time on 48 when Chawla failed to hold a catch at long-leg.
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Sussex started their chase needing just over a run-a-ball but were immediately pegged back when Brett Lee bowled Joyce for a first-ball duck.
Hamilton-Brown and Smith both made good starts but failed to kick on - and opener Chris Nash stayed for almost 13 overs only to flick Henriques to Stuart Clark at fine-leg.
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Introduced into the attack in the ninth over, Chawla struck immediately, getting the wicket of Daniel Smith (2), caught at wide long-on boundary by Robin Martin-Jenkins.
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Hughes, however, was determined to make up for his flop show against Diamond Eagles, clobbering Chawla over the long-off boundary. Inspired by his partner at the other end, Henriques swiped the leg-spinner over deep square leg to pick up 17 runs from the 11th over.
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Henriques saw off Chawla first ball - and although Joe Gatting denied the bowler a hat-trick, the Sharks' challenge faded quickly thereafter.
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Teams:
New South Wales: PJ Hughes, DA Warner, SM Katich*, MC Henriques, BJ Rohrer, SPD Smith, DLR Smith†, B Lee, NM Hauritz, SR Clark, DE Bollinger.
Sussex: EC Joyce*, CD Nash, RJ Hamilton-Brown, DR Smith, JS Gatting, PP Chawla, Yasir Arafat, AJ Hodd†, RSC Martin-Jenkins, CB Keegan, BC Brown.
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Watch the fall of wickets of NSW
Watch the boundaries hit by NSW
Watch the fall of wickets of Sussex
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