Puttick cuts loose as Cobras progress

Andrew Puttick struck the first hundred of the Champions League Twenty20 as the Cobras brushed Otago aside

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Captain Andrew Puttick hit the first century of the Champions League Twenty20 to guide the Cape Cobras to a convincing 54-run win over New Zealand’s Otago Volts in Hyderabad.

In a match the South African franchise dominated from start to finish, opener Puttick - called up to the squad last week as a replacement for the injured Graeme Smith - hammered an unbeaten 104 off just 62 deliveries as the Cobras piled up 193 for four.

Fast bowler Rory Kleinveldt then claimed three 3-24 and JP Duminy 2-10 as the Cobras bowled the Volts out for 139 in 17.1 overs to secure their passage to the second stage of the tournament.

Dimitri Mascarenhas had given Otago a bright start after they won the toss, removing Herschelle Gibbs in his first over thanks to a smart catch behind at the second attempt by wicketkeeper Derek de Boorder.

Henry Davids fell in Mascarenhas’ third over when he skied a drive to mid-off, and the England all-rounder finished with admirable figures of 2-20 off four overs.

Puttick, meanwhile, started his innings with consecutive boundaries, the first driven just backward of square and the other a flick square on the leg-side.

At the other end, Duminy not only offered stability but also landed a few solid blows of his own as the scoring rate rocketed to almost 10 an over from a measly six.

The Volts then opened another window of opportunity when Duminy chipped Ian Butler to long-off in the 16th over for a brisk 32 from 25 balls.

Dimitri Mascarenhas returned figures of 2-20 off four overs, but could not prevent Otago slipping to defeat

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Kleinveldt holed out on the cover boundary five balls later off Neil Wagner, but Justin Ontong helped finish the innings with a flourish, clobbering four sixes and two fours in a brutal unbeaten 39 off just 14 deliveries.

His cameo helped Puttick reach his century, the left-hander reaching the mark by guiding Wagner to third man for his 12th four.

Otago began the chase strongly with Brendon McCullum and Aaron Redmond putting on 33 for the first wicket in quick time.

But the innings fell apart when Redmond was removed by Kleindveldt - caught smartly at third man by a tumbling Davids - and McCullum was needlessly run out by the same fielder looking for an ambitious second.

Two more run-outs asserted the Cobras’ dominance in the field and when Nathan McCullum was caught at fine-leg for 38 - the highest score of the innings - it was all but over for Otago.

“About a week ago I would never have imagined this, because I wasn’t coming to India,” said Puttick after collecting the man-of-the-match award.

“But we have a long way to go in this competition, and we have to keep our feet on the ground.

“We were a little shaky the other night against the Royal Challengers. But our fielding has improved tremendously, and I’m very happy with the way we performed. It’s the first step accomplished, but the hard work really starts now.”

Otago captain Craig Cumming said: “I thought if we restricted them to 160-170 it would have been a good score.

“We started off confidently, but three run-outs in the top five really did us in. We play Bangalore on Monday and we now know what we need to do to stay in this competition.”