Gayle lead RCB to enormous win

Royal Challengers Bangalore 206 for 6 (Gayle 86) strike Somerset 155 for 6 (Trego 58, Arvind 2-23, Vettori 2-25) by 51 runs

After guiding Royal Challengers Bangalore to a severe victory, Chris Gayle exposed that he found it hard to get going during the early part of his knock.

Gayle scored 86 off 46 balls, his 14th fifty in Twenty20.

"I am very happy with my presentation. It was a key game for us. It wasn't the most excellent of starts as it was a bit hard to bat on originally. In the end, I got shut to playing 20 overs which was good for me," the big-bodied Jamaican said at the post-match appearance ceremony.

Gayle said that the general deliberations were concerning one of the top batsmen trying to bat as many overs as possible.

"No one got a 50 in the first two games. We had a conversation. So whosoever got in this game was asked to carry on. Hopefully, we can win the next one with a big margin as well."

RCB captain Daniel Vettori said that this win was accurately what the doctor ordered.

"It's what we wanted to do. We needed a big one to give ourselves a chance. Gayle showed what a good player he is during the IPL, and again in this one. We were still battling, however, with the way Somerset started," Vettori said.

Although he wasn't happy with his bowlers' presentation during the KKR game, he said that the win was "acceptable."

"I thought 185 were par-score on this track and we went further than that. We knew that chase this target would be tough."

Somerset captain Alfonso Thomas said that they could have gone with an off-spinner rather than leaving with three left-arm spinners whcih made their attack look unsurprising.

"We could have done away with an off-spinner, but attractive nothing away from Chris, he pace his innings nicely," he said.

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Kallis, Steyn take rest for Aus series

Hashim Amla will make his first appearance as national team captain, both in T20 and ODIs, when South Africa starts their series next to Australia next week.

All-rounder Jacques Kallis and pacer Dale Steyn have been left out of the side. Cricket South Africa's national selectors on Monday name the squads for both formats.

"With the ICC World Twenty20 less than a year away, we need to keep a solid core of knowledge around the side," commented CSA collection convener, Andrew Hudson. He added: "But at the same time, we want to give younger players a run as well and this surely applies in the case of Richard Levi and David Miller."

Richard Levi of the Nashua Mobile Cape Cobras is the only new cap (in the T20 format) while David Miller of the Sunfoil Dolphins and Mark Boucher of the Cobras have been recall.

Heino Kuhn of the Nashua Titans will stay wicket in the T20 format.

The addition of Boucher and Miller at the cost of Morne van Wyk of the Chevrolet Knights, Colin Ingram of the Chevrolet Warriors and the upset AB de Villiers of the Nashua Titans are the change to the ODI squad that did duty at the 2011 edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup.

"We don't have a lot of T20 International matches previous to the ICC event so it is significant that we provide the likes of Levi, Miller and Colin Ingram an extended run.

Heino Kuhn also get an chance as a result of AB de Villiers' unlucky injury.

"We have left Jacques Kallis and Dale Steyn out of the T20 squad as part of our turning round policy. Both players were keen to play but this is part of our turning round policy as selectors."

ODI squad: Hashim Amla (capt), Johan Botha, Mark Boucher JP Duminy, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, Jacques Kallis, David Miller, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Dale Steyn, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

T20 squad: Hashim Amla, Johan Botha, JP Duminy, Colin Ingram, Heino Kuhn, Richard Levi, David Miller, Albie Morkel, Morne Morkel, Wayne Parnell, Robin Peterson, Graeme Smith, Rusty Theron, Lonwabo Tsotsobe.

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Cobras can switch T&T's spin attack'

Cape Cobras wicket-keeper Dane Vilas said his team is sure of seeing off T&T's spin attack on the hard MA Chidambaram strip.

"Luckily, we are playing them at the finish, so they're not a totally unknown entity," Vilas said at the pre-match media meeting on Monday.

"We've done some work on them; they bowled brilliantly next to Chennai Super Kings. I think the key to the game alongside Chennai was that they took the pace off the ball quite a lot. A lot of bowlers that we've faced have taken the pace off, using dissimilar variations. So hopefully, we've got that enclosed," he said.

Asked to name one area the team needs to recover upon, he said, "It's essentially a quarter-final for us, we have to win this game. We had a long pre-season. One key area we can improve on is almost certainly our fielding. I think we have not been the field side we can be in this event "

Vilas said he is sure about the South African side's own spin attack, in spite of it going for runs in the rain-hit match next to Mumbai Indians in Bangalore, when the latter amassed 176/6 in 20 overs.

"We're very sure. The Chennai and Bangalore pitches are entirely different. The one in Chennai help spin, while the Bangalore one was a lot flatter and a better pitch to bat on.

"But we've played three games here and JP (Duminy) bowled a brilliant spell next to Chennai, taking four wickets next to huge players of spin and we've also got Robin Peterson," he said.

Asked if china-man bowler, Michael Rippon, would obtain a look in next to Chennai on a spin-friendly pitch on Tuesday, Vilas said, "I think we'll keep the same team, we're bowling well as a unit."

"(But) guys like Andrew Puttick and Rippon are forever ready (if picked)."

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