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Hyderabad: A compelling performance from Brett Lee, with bat and ball, spurred New South Wales to the Champions League Twenty20 title in the final against Trinidad & Tobago in Hyderabad.
Lee scored 48 to lift NSW from 83 for 6 to a competitive 159. He then returned for a fiery spell with the new ball, taking 2 for 10 off two overs, before symbolically ending the T&T challenging by catching the fearsome Kieron Pollard on the boundary.
NSW also had another, if less prominent, performer in young legspinner Steven Smith. He partnered Lee during a 49-run partnership, scoring 33, and picked up two crucial wickets with his legbreaks.
The game was won in the last five overs of the NSW innings and in the first five of the chase and it was Lee who featured in both the little match-turning phases. The game had so many sub-plots - the nervy collapse of NSW and T&T's top order, Ravi Rampaul's canny seam bowling, Sherwin Ganga bowling three overs of spin in the Powerplay, Steven Smith's sensible batting and Kieron Pollard's icy-cool batting effort - but the biggest story was Lee's all-round contribution.
He walked in with NSW tottering at 83 for 6, proceeded to slowly pull them out of the hole before shifting gears to charge them to a competitive score. It was almost the perfect counter punch. He knew the first task was safety - he scored just 7 from 13 deliveries - but knew there was no use meandering to a below-par total and thus upped the ante in the end overs with some stunning hits.
Earlier, Trinidad and Tobago put on bats for New South Wales Blues, have in the end posted a competitive 159 for 9 in their 20 overs.
The Blues did not start as expected with their in-form openers getting out cheaply. Even the middle-order failed to get going leaving their side in trouble at 83 for 6. But then, S.Smith (33) got together with Lee (48) and both of them added 49 runs for the 7th wicket before the former departed.
Lee continued and put on another 27 runs along with Hauritz (10). Those two partnerships at the end gave the Blues a respectable total after the early loss of wickets. For Trinidad and Tobago, Rampaul bowled brilliantly picking up 3 for 20. Bravo scalped a couple to become the leading wicket-taker of the tournament.
Brief score
New South Wales: 159 for 9 (Lee 48, Rampaul 3-20)
Trinidad & Tobago: 118 (Clark 3-21, Lee 2-10)
Result: New South Wales by 41 runs
Series: New South Wales won Airtel Champions League 2009
MOM: Brett Lee (New South Wales)
Man of the series: Brett Lee (New South Wales)
