6 stunning bowling performances in Super Overs

CJ De Villiers Cricket
De Villiers picked up 2 wickers in the opening two deliveries of the Super Over

Before the Super Over was introduced, tied matches in T20 cricket used to be decided by a ‘Bowl Out'Super over or the eliminator as we know it now, is like the tennis’ tie breaker in cricket. Super over was first brought to use in the T20 format in 2008 after removing ‘Bowl Out’ as the decider. It essentially is a reduced version of the game wherein one over is bowled and 2 wickets are given to the batting side. Obviously, the one who scores more wins the match.A super over is always a crowd pleaser and an entertaining affair for the viewers to watch. It’s expected that the batsmen will go thrashing and little do we care about the bowlers. It’s important however to understand the role of a bowler in this. Tighter lines and good lengths are the two important criteria that a coach looks for in a bowler at this moment and these bowlers proved their importance by securing victory for their teams. Let’s have a look at 6 of the most amazing bowling performances in a super over:

#6 CJ de Villiers, Diamond Eagles vs Sussex Sharks

CJ De Villiers Cricket
De Villiers picked up 2 wickers in the opening two deliveries of the Super Over

This was the first time the eliminator came into picture in the Champions League T20. It was the match between Sussex Sharks and Diamond Eagles. Sussex scored 119/7 on a rather slow pitch at Kotla andthe Eagles tied the match at 119/4 with Rossouw scoring a brilliant 65. The match went to the Super Over and the Eagles were the first to bat and Yasir Arafat had the ball against Rossouw and McLaren. The Eagles scored 9 runs with one six.

CJ de Villiers had the hard job of defending 10 runs with the fierce Dwayne Smith on strike. But much to his surprise, Smith was bowled off the very first ball and on the next delivery De Villiers uprooted the off stump of Hamilton Brown and the Sussex Sharks were all out for 0.

Defending 9 runs isnt as an easy job and it definitely was one of the best bowling performances in a super over.

#5 Lasith Malinga, Sri Lanka vs New Zealand

The ICC World T20 2012 group stage match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand was the 7th T20I to end in a tie and the Black Caps had been part of 4 of them. New Zealand batting first scored 178, their highest total against Sri Lanka till then. Thanks to solid innings from Dilshan and Mahela, Sri Lanka reached 178 but couldnt get that single that woul have given them an outright win.

Tim Southee took the ball against Jayawardene and Perera. Southee bowled atight line to the batsmen and didnt concede any boundaries, but the batsmen still scored 13 runs. McCullum and Guptill stood at the crease to chase those 14 runs and there was no doubting that Slinga Malinga would be bowling the Super Over. The Kiwis managed only 6 runs off the first 4 balls and Malinga held his nerve and got a wicket on the next delivery thussealing the match for Sri Lanka.

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#4 Simon Jones, Hampshire vs Barbados

Simon Jones England Cricket
Simon Jones picked up two wickets without conceding a run

It was the Caribbean T20 League and Hampshire won a thrilling super over against Barbados andall the credit for the victory went to Simon Jones for his brilliant performance. Hampshire and Barbados were tied at a score of 136 which resulted inan eliminator.

Dwayne Smith and Carlos Morris took the crease for Barbados to start the Super Over, but little did they know what was about to unfold. Jones clubbed both the wickets for 0 in 3 balls and Hampshire required only 1 run. That was not the end of the drama however as Hampshire lost a wicket on the very first ball as well, but managed to take a single to take the game home. It was a super over full of surprises.

#3 Tim Southee, New Zealand vs Australia

With a brilliant ton by Brendon McCullum, New Zealand paved their way to a massive total of 214 in 20 overs in the 2nd T20 between ew Zeland and Australia in 2010. The never-give-up attitude of the Australians again helped the team and a big partnership between Clarke and Haddin made way for Cameron White to show his colossal power with the bat scoring 64 of just 28 balls. The Aussies managed to score 214 by scoring 11 runs in the final over.

With White on fire and in full flow, the Aussies were expected to score a good total in the resulting Super Over. However, Tim Southee took the responsibility for the Black Capsand managed to give away only 6 runs very economical for a super over. The Kiwis easily managed a win and the credit deservedly went to a terrific performance by Southee.

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#2 Yasir Arafat, Perth Scorchers vs Sydney Sixers

Yasir Arafat might not have made it big with the Pakistan national team, but the all-rounder is considered a decent enough T20 player in the domestic circuit and he showed his abilities playing for Perth Scorchers against Sydney Sixers, first forcing the match to end in a tieand then performing even better in the Super Over to win the contest for his side.

Steve Smiths knock of 65 runs from48 balls kept the hopes alive for the Sixers and he almost single-handedly clinched the victory for his side as only 7 runs were needed in the last over for a win. But Arafat had something else on his mind ashe bowled an excellent last over and conceded only 6 runs thus resulting in the super over.

It was no surprise that Arafat would be given the duties yet again. Smith, who came in to bat first could not read the brilliant slow delivery by Yasir and was caught on the very first ball and subsequently Arafat got Moises Henriques out after conceding only one run. Thus, the Scorchers required only 2 runs to win which they managed to get on the very first ball off Brett Lee.

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#1 Sunil Narine, Guyana Amazon Warriors vs Red Steel

This has to be on top of the list. What a magical day it was for Sunil Narine when he bowled a maiden wicket super over! This happened in a Caribbean Premier League match between Guyana Amazon Warriors and Red Steel. The Warriors were chasing a target of 119 but ended up equalizing the score and the match went into a super over with Warriors batting first and scoring 11/1.

Narine came on to ball for the Warriors and bowled 4 dot balls to the away teams wicket-keeper batsman Nicolas Pooran and got him out on the next delivery. The last ball was faced by Ross Taylor which was again a dot ball and thus the over ended up being a maiden. Hats off to Sunil Narine for this cracker of a performance!

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Edited by Staff Editor