17 October,2009 09:16 AM IST | | Amol Karhadkar
When the Diamond Eagles suffered a tame defeat against New South Wales in New Delhi last week in their Champions League Twenty20 opener, they looked like one of the most fragile units in the tournament.
However, the South Africans have emerged as the most improved outfit in the tournament over the last week.
After ousting Sussex Sharks in a do-or-die encounter in the Super Over, the Eagles opened their last eight campaign in style yesterday, cruising to a five-wicket victory with eight balls to spare at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
Diamond Eagles' AK Kruger (left) is congratulated by skipper Boeta
Dippenaar after dismissing Somerset's Petre Trego. PIC/SURESH KK
CJ de Villiers, the star of the Super Over against Sussex, again came good, bowling a dream spell of 4-2-17-4, which helped Eagles restrict Somerset to 132 for eight. And then, riding on Morne van Wyk's 47 off 41 balls, Eagles hardly looked in a spot during their chase.
The young brigade of South African cricket was naturally thrilled with their performance over the week. De Villiers, who was adjudged the Man of the Match, admitted that playing a formidable unit as New South Wales in their opening encounter helped their cause in a way.
"They had eight Test players while we had just one, so anyway we had given ourselves little chance of winning that one," De Villiers told MiD DAY after the game. "Also, we were bound to be a bit overawed, so yeah, playing them early on did help our cause as we went on in the tournament."
Earlier in the media conference, De Villiers elaborated on their improvement over the week.
"I don't think we played bad in the first game. We played good cricket. The conditions weren't really ideal for playing T20 cricket, so we had to adapt ourselves to it," said the fast bowler.
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