We didn't know what to do - Yardy

Michael Yardy admitted "we didn’t know what to do" when the match against the Diamonds Eagles went to a super over

Captain Michael Yardy admitted Sussex’s lack of experience of the super over cost them dear as they were eliminated from the Champions League Twenty20 by the Diamond Eagles.

Sussex fought back bravely to force the one-over-a-side tie-breaker after they had managed just 119 for seven at the Feroz Shah Kotla.

The Eagles were seemingly coasting to victory thanks to a brisk 65 from opener Rilee Rossouw, but spinners Piyush Chawla and Rory Hamilton-Brown spearheaded Sussex’s recovery and left the South Africans needing 12 from the final over.

Yasir Arafat conceded two singles and a leg bye off the first three balls but Ryan McLaren inside-edged the fourth for four and hit a boundary through midwicket off the final delivery to tie the scores.

The super-over rule - an extra over with teams permitted only three batsmen and one bowler - was therefore applied.

Arafat, entrusted with the super over, conceded nine, but Sussex lost two wickets off the first two deliveries of Cornelius de Villiers’ over to signal the end of the game and hand the Eagles a berth in the second round.

“I think there were about 3,000 discussions at one point at the start of the super over,” said Yardy as he contemplated Sussex’s early return home after losing both their matches.

“Yasir has been absolutely brilliant for us bowling at the death in the domestic season for us. We think he’s one of the best in the world and he was always going to be the man for us.

'Death' specialist Yasir Arafat saw two of his last three balls hit for four - and then conceded nine in the super over

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“But we have never had it (the super over) before so we didn’t really know what to do. But fair play to the Diamond Eagles - they played very well.”

While Yardy was disappointed that the game went to a super over after McLaren’s late heroics, he was full of praise for the inaugural Champions League Twenty20

“Their openers played really well and got them off to a flyer, but we clawed back with a bit of spin in the middle,” Yardy added. “Dwayne Smith also turned in a good spell and we were looking good.

“But that’s the way it goes with Twenty20 cricket. Ryan McLaren scored two boundaries at the end and now we are going home. It was a fantastic game of cricket. We fought our way back into the game but we just came up short.

“It’s an absolutely brilliant tournament and we’ve been looked after fantastically well. We’ve really enjoyed our time here and I think it’s an incentive to come back here and try and go one step better.”

Eagles skipper Boeta Dippenaar admitted the finish was too close for comfort.

“I’m very happy, but 10 years older,” he said. “We have had a bit of experience with the super over last year in the semi-final of the Standard Bank Pro20 series and that came in handy.

“We just kept it calm, tried to make sure we hit it as straight as possible, especially on this wicket, and while bowling we tried to keep it straight and back off a length. CJ (de Villiers) did a magnificent job for us.

“We bowled well to restrict Sussex to 119, but with the start we had I thought we should not have gone to the super over.

“We lost momentum after the powerplay and the wicket was a little harder to bat on, with even Rilee struggling towards the end of his innings.

“We are in the next round, we are improving, we are a young team and we are looking to play many more matches here.”