Otago beat Maroons in CLT20

Otago won their second Champions League Twenty20 match in two days to go top of the Qualifying Group standings with eight points after overcoming Kandurata Maroons by six wickets at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here Wednesday.

However, the loss has put the Maroons at the bottom of the points table, since they also lost their first match Tuesday against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Put in to bat, the Maroons could not click as a unit, with only opener Upul Tharanga (76) scoring almost half of the team's runs as the Sri Lankan side finished at 154/9 in their quota of 20 overs. The second highest scorer was Dilhara Lokuhettige, who only managed 15 runs.

Pacer Ian Butler clinched three wickets for the New Zealand outfit while Ryan ten Doeschate picked two. James McMillan, Neil Wagner and James Neesham took a wicket each for Otago.

In response, all rounder ten Doeschate played a blistering innings of 64 with a strike rate of 200 to help his achieve the target and finish at 157/4 with two overs to spare. His 32-ball whirlwind included five sixes and two boundaries.

Ten Doeschate, later declared man of the match, was well supported by Neesham, who remained unbeaten on 32. Earlier, Neil Broom (25) and Hamish Rutherford (20) provided a decent start to the Otago innings.

Lokuhettige picked up three wickets for the Maroons while Nuwan Kulasekara took one.