The second game of the Champions League T20 tournament will be played between the South African side Eagles and the Australian team New South Wales. This will be a Group B encounter, and will be followed by each of the sides facing the Sussex Sharks in their other game.

The Diamond Eagles were one of the luckiest sides to qualify for the tournament, having gone through some heart-stopping moments, net run rate situations and tied matches to get here. However, they will now begin this tournament against one of the strongest sides of the series, the New South Wales.

Eagles will be led by Boeta Dippenaar, someone who has been a consistent run getter in the international arena during his times. However, apart from the captain himself, there are not too many players whom the audiences would be able to relate to. Sure, there is Morne van Wyk, who did acquit himself rather well in the Indian Premier League and has played some international cricket, but apart from that they do lack the experience in both their departments.

The batting will miss the aggression that their other South African side, the Titans would have in the form of Herschelle Gibbs and J.P.Duminy and that would be the problem for the side.

As compared to that, New South Wales will go into the competition, and into this game brimming with confidence. And why not! After all, having nine international cricketers in the squad will mean that the only problem that the Blues could suffer from would be the embarrassment of riches. Selection would be a huge issue, as there are not too many who deserve to miss out, and under the leadership of Simon Katich, the team is bound to go into the game as favourites.

Phillip Hughes and Dave Warner will open the NSW innings, and both of them would still be hurting under their exclusions from the test and the ODI squads. This will mean that there is extra incentive for them to get out in the middle and score some runs. However, it not only the batting, but also the bowling which will be a strong proposition for the Eagles, as the likes of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark Nathan Bracken will make life miserable for the opposition. It is difficult to have a line-up like the trio mentioned and have runs scored of you; Clark and Bracken are very difficult to score off, whereas Lee is a wicket-taking bowler who can run through the batting.

Tag :- Champions League   Dave Warner   Diamond Eagles   Herschelle Gibbs   Indian Premier League   New South Wales   Simon Katich   Stuart Clark