Lee is right on the ball

Veteran cricketer Brett Lee rose to the occasion when he lifted New South Wales to victory over Trinidad & Tobago in the final of the Champions League Twenty20 and a whopping purse of $2.5 million (BD948,773).

Being put in to bat, NSW Blues got off to a good start but lost wickets at regular intervals and were 83 for 6 in the 12th over when Lee walked in to the crease. Having won each and every match - including against the Australian side in the second league phase - before the finale, the team from the West Indies who started the tournament as underdogs appeared headed for glory. But Lee had other ideas.

The 33-year-old Australian fast bowler, this time, shone with the bat as he went on the rampage scoring 48 from just 31 balls including five sixes and a boundary as he and all-rounder Steven Smith lifted the Blues to 159 before Lee fell to the final ball of the innings.

And when he came on to the field again, this time with the ball in his hands, he struck in the two overs that he bowled taking the wickets of opener William Perkins with the second ball of the innings and then in his second over he took a sharp return catch to get rid of Lendl Simmons. For his efforts Lee was rewarded with the 'player of the final' and 'player of the series' awards.

"He (Lee) showed his true colours as an international today," said T&T skipper Daren Ganga later. "He came in with the team in a spot of bother and he applied himself. Then, with the new ball, he took crucial wickets. He was the outstanding performer, but they have a really good team spirit. It's hard when you lose wickets early, especially in a final. It puts the remaining batsmen under pressure, and we didn't handle it well tonight."

"We made mistakes tactically in that first game against Trinidad," said Blues skipper Simon Katich. "We learnt from those. There's so much belief in the squad. Even when we were down and out, no one gave up." Even when Keiron Pollard tried to ensure that lightning would strike twice, New South Wales held their nerve, and their catches.

That both the Australian teams made the semi-finals of the tournament speaks volumes of the depth of talent Down Under. But the down side was that they met in the penultimate stage, where the Blues outplayed the Victorian Bushrangers to set up a clash with the Trinidadians, who overcame South Africa's Cape Cobras with four balls to spare in another compelling performance oozing with Caribbean flair.

And hosts India had three teams in the event but the Indian Premier League Season 2 champions Deccan Chargers could not make it to the second round, while the other two - IPL2 runners-up Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Daredevils - failed to make much of an impact. Diamond Eagles, the second team from South Africa advanced to the second stage, where they finished third in their group thereby failing to make the last four.

Of the two English counties in the fray, Somerset advanced to the second round but lost all three matches there while Sussex lost both its matches in the first phase to make an early exit.

Otago, the only team from New Zealand also had an indifferent outing losing both their matches and went home early, while Sri Lankan outfit Wayamba did well to bounce back - after losing their first match to Daredevils - by defeating Victoria but they finished third in the group on net run rate.