A whirlwind half-century from Trinidad & Tobago all-rounder Kieron Pollard saw NSW sink a dramatic four-wicket defeat and dent their semi-final aspirations in the Champions League Twenty20 cricket tournament in Hyderabad, India.

NSW scored 4-170 with openers Phillip Hughes (83 off 64 balls) and David Warner (63 off 41) putting on 121 off 15.2 overs.

The Blues looked in control of the League A clash when they had their opposition reeling at 6-118 in the 16th over.

However, big hitter Pollard (54 not out off 18 balls) single-handedly turned the match around with an awesome display of power hitting, smiting five fours and five sixes.

He belted three sixes and two fours off a series of over-pitched deliveries from Moises Henriques in a 27-run 17th over which swung the match around.

Pollard and Sherwin Ganga milked eight off the next over from Brett Lee to get the target down to 16 from two overs.

Blues captain Simon Katich bravely opted to give Henriques the penultimate over.

However, the gamble failed, as Pollard smashed the opening ball for four and then belted successive sixes to clinch an improbable win with nine deliveries to spare.

The loss leaves NSW (two points) second on the League A ladder behind Trinidad and Tobago (four) and just ahead on percentage of South Africa’s Diamond Eagles, who kept their hopes alive with a five-wicket win over English side Somerset (zero points).

The Blues need to beat Somerset on Sunday in Hyderabad to give themselves a good chance of making the last four.

The NSW batsmen relished the more reliable bounce in Hyderabad after battling on the slow and low wickets in Delhi in their two Group Stage wins.

Hughes notched his second successive half-century, striking 11 fours and a six and mixed legside swipes with his trademark offside shots.

Warner was batting at a far slower pace than hs partner, but beat him to 50 after taking 24 off the one over bowled by spinner Samuel Badree.

Hughes added 43 off 23 deliveries with Henriques (17 off 11), before both were dismissed by successive deliveries from Dwayne Bravo (3-31), who also removed Ben Rohrer (2 off 3) to claim three wickets in the final over.

NSW took 3-9 to reduce Trinidad and Tobago to 3-30 in the fifth over with Lee, Doug Bollinger (1-22) and Henriques all striking an early blow.

Good fielding and some scatty running led to three run outs as Daren Ganga (32), Darren Bravo (27) and Denesh Ramdin (23) all perished before Pollard took control.

© AAP 2012

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