IANS
Hyderabad, Oct 24: New South Wales Blues showed their class as they toppled Trinidad and Tobago by 41 runs to win the inaugural Champions League Twenty20 here Friday.
Brett Lee was the performer both with the bat and the ball for the Australian side.
Lee (48 runs) was the highest scorer in Blues' total of 159 runs for nine wickets, giving the late thrust to the innings after a top-order collapse left the Australian side reeling at 4 wickets for 47 runs.
Lee then came out firing with the ball, wrecking the top order with two wickets.
Trinidad and Tobago, reduced to three wickets for 21 runs, could never recover from the early blows and folded up for 118 runs in 15.5 overs.
Trinidad and Tobago were unbeatable in the tournament and had even defeated New South Wales in the league stage, but tonight they were outclassed by the Blues.
The Blues with the reputation of producing a steady stream of players for the national team, showed the quality in their ranks, especially in the bowling department which is filled with international stars.
Once Lee and Steven Smith (33 runs) rescued the Blues from a bad start after Ravi Rampual took three wickets, there was no looking back for the Australian side.
Lee rattled William Perkins with the second ball of the innings, who attempted to hit him over the cover. Adrian Barath was dismissed by Steven Smith (2-32), before Lee snared Lendl Simmons to leave Trinidad tottering. The attacking approach of the West Indian team was certainly not working.
Daren Ganga (19 runs) and Dwayne Bravo (17 runs) tried to stem the rot before Doug Bollinger (1-27) dismissed Bravo.
Trinidad kept losing wickets at regular interval. Their hopes rested on Keiron Pollard whose powerful hitting had seen them through in the league match against New South Wales.
Pollard (26 runs) wielded his willow for some overs, executing some breathtaking shots that included three sixes but finally gave his wicket to spinner Nathan Hauritz (2-23).
Stuart Clark (3-21) then cleaned the tail with little trouble.