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Australia is finally coming to grips with Twenty20 cricket, judging by the success of their representatives in the inaugural Champions League tournament in India.
NSW claimed the $US2.5 million ($A2.69 million) first prize after beating Trinidad & Tobago by 41 runs in the final, having defeated domestic rivals Victoria in the semis.
The performance of the Australian teams was a marked contrast to the shambolic efforts of the national side at this year’s World Cup in England.
Australia were crushed by both the West Indies and Sri Lanka and finished bottom of the group.
Even cricketing minnows Ireland and the Netherlands performed better, with the former qualifying for the last eight and the latter scoring a famous win over England.
Prior to the no result in their last Twenty20 international against England, Australia had lost their previous five games in the truncated form of the game and had a mediocre all-time record of just 11 victories from 24 games.
Significantly, very few of Australia’s World Cup squad had actually played much T20 cricket outside of the international arena, with several of the players never even having represented their state in the shortest form of the game.
Obviously some harsh lessons were learnt well.
NSW’s success was built on the dashing batting of openers Phillip Hughes and David Warner, the second- and third-highest run-scorers at the tournament.
But it was Brett Lee, who had never played a T20 game for NSW before the Champions League, who emerged as player of the tournament.
The 32-year-old paceman conceded an incredibly low 3.76 runs per over through the Blues’ six-match campaign.
Lee was part of the most miserly attack in the tournament, receiving terrific support from fellow pacemen Stuart Clark (4.90 runs per over), who mixed up his pace well, and Doug Bollinger (5.41), and spinner Nathan Hauritz (6.25).
Young all-rounder Steven Smith, 20, emerged as a potential star by scoring 33 off 26 balls and taking 2-32 in the final.
Smith was given the new ball in the final and showed his character by dismissing Adrian Barath with the final ball of his first over, after that batsman had smashed him for 14 runs from his first three deliveries.
“It shows how much belief we do have in him. He played a fantastic knock under pressure,” NSW coach Matthew Mott told AAP.
“With the ball, he took a little bit of tap early and got a wicket with his last ball, so he’s certainly a player we’ve got a lot of belief in and I think he’s shown what he can do on the world stage.”
Victoria didn’t have quite as many contributors, especially in the batting, where none of their players tallied 80 in their five-game campaign.
However, unheralded paceman Clinton McKay finished joint second-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with NSW all-rounder Moises Henriques.
Experienced all-rounder Andrew McDonald was another strong performer for the Bushrangers, topping their batting averages and finishing second in the bowling.
The cash jackpot won by the Blues will be divided between the players and Cricket NSW, with some of the huge haul filtering down to grass roots development.
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