Well, actually by Trinidad and Tobago.

In the final game of the first round of the Champions’ League the Deccan Chargers won the toss and elected to field. Trinidad & Tobago scored 149, which was about the sort of score that would produce a close match. So it proved.

The Chargers started off well thanks to a typically brilliant 51 of 36 balls by their skipper, Adam Gilchrist (though he did come within a whisker of being out twice in the first over). However, both Gilchrist and Rohit Sharma, who were going very well, were out soon after the half way point. Scott Styris and Venugopal Rao then looked to have the game under control, only for both to fall quickly. By now the Chargers were reliant on their bowlers to make the winning runs, and so the target became much harder. With one over to go they needed 8 to win, and Dwayne Bravo was much too good for them, though the result was technically in doubt right down to the final ball.

It is a real shame for the Chargers. They have played two games and lost them by 1 wicket and by 3 runs. That will be tough to take. On the other hand, Trinidad & Tobago played very well, and because of the victory Somerset are through to the next round. Here are the two groups:

League 1: NSW, Trinidad & Tobago, Somerset, Bloemfontein.

League 2: Cape Town, Delhi, Bangalore, Victoria.

Points are carried through from the previous round, so the teams with two victories — NSW, Trinidad & Tobago and Cape Town — will be the favorites to make the semi finals. Each team will play only two matches — against the teams they haven’t faced before. Tomorrow the Bush Rangers go to Bangalore to face the Royal Challengers. And on Friday Somerset play the Bloemfontein Eagles. Thankfully we are not playing either of our two games on the horrid Delhi pitch.