Southee and Boult demolish Lahore Lions

RAIPUR: The match had begun in overcast conditions. Lahore Lions were not able to enlist their help and were helpless witnesses to what could have happened - Tim Southee and Trent Boult had the ball zipping around to have Lions 19 for 5 chasing 171. The rest was simply a blur of pink as Northern Knights hurtled to a crushing 72-run victory.

Daniel Flynn, their captain, knew he had a new-ball attack that could dissect Test sides and his half-century coupled with BJ Watling's provided what ended up being a giant run-rate boost that primes them to make the main draw.

Their only roadblock on the day was Saad Nasim, who willed Lions towards some sense of dignity with a fifty of his own. He was the only man to reach double-figures, while his team was all out for 98, the sixth-lowest total in T20 cricket.

The slide began with a menacing yorker from Southee, one that swung in late, sneaked under Nasir Jamshed's plod and topple his stumps. Boult ensured he wasn't left behind by setting up the other opener Ahmed Shehzad. Doubts were sowed when an inswinger had the batsman playing around his pads. The next ball was angled across, Shehzad's muddled footwork and feeble prod was safely pouched by the keeper. A contest was brewing, although it was limited to the two quicks.

Southee surged ahead by bouncing Mohammad Hafeez and had a little luck in undoing Umar Siddiq's promotion. Boult hit back with a rousing inswinger that rattled Akmal's stumps to bring the seamers' skirmish even. By this time Lions -who were five down - were so far behind the game that Southee and Boult's game of one-upmanship was the only thing that caught the crowd's attention.

The winner was declared in rather emphatic fashion, if again with a little bit of luck. Asif Raza slogged to deep midwicket, a curious decision considering the impact of run-rates. An immense amount of hang-time later it fell down on the edge of the midwicket boundary where Southee propelled himself into the air-space beyond the advertising skirting, caught the ball and relayed it to Daryl Mitchell who had been tracking it from deep square leg. The third umpire spent several minutes deciding if Southee had trod on the rope, and it seemed that he had, but CK Chandan thought otherwise. Boult had to settle for toppling the final wicket through a smart run-out to give the Lions chase a fitting end.