Veteran batsman Simon Katich says the underachieving Perth Scorchers let themselves down and got what they deserved after being eliminated from the Champions League T20 cricket tournament in South Africa.
A three-wicket loss to India’s Delhi Daredevils in Cape Town on Monday (AEDT) wrecked Perth’s campaign, even though they still have one group game left against New Zealand’s Auckland Aces on Tuesday.
Losses to Delhi and South Africa’s Titans and a no result against India’s Kolkata Knight Riders left them with just two points from three games and ended their hopes of joining Sydney Sixers in the semi-finals.
Perth struggled to score at more than a run a ball in all three of their innings.
Scorchers’ stars Michael Hussey and Mitchell Johnson are turning out for IPL teams in the tournament but Katich pointed to other reasons for Perth’s poor showing.
“We didn’t prepare as well as we should have, and we paid the price,” Katich was reported as saying at the post-match press conference by website espncricinfo.com.
Katich, who was Perth’s leading run scorer in the tournament, was reluctant to elaborate on the preparation problems he alluded to.
“I’m not going to go into details about that, but we got what we deserved, simple as that,” Katich said.
“We haven’t shown what we’re capable of in this tournament.
“We had a very good Big Bash last year, but in this tournament we’ve let ourselves down.”
Against Delhi, the Scorchers made a mediocre score of 5-121.
South African-born Scorchers opener Herschelle Gibbs (6 off 7) continued his miserable run in the tournament in which he has gleaned only 25 runs from three innings.
Left-handers Shaun Marsh (39 off 41 balls) and Katich (34 off 33) added 73 in 11 overs, but weren’t able to dominate against an accurate and probing attack headed by South African paceman Morne Morkel (3-19 off 4) and Indian veteran Ajit Agarkar (2-14 off 4).
For the second innings in a row Marsh soaked up around 40 deliveries before being dismissed with a strike rate just below 100.
Opening bowler Joe Mennie (2-21 off 4) and left-arm spinner Michael Beer (2-18 off 4) reduced Delhi to 4-60 in the tenth over.
Paceman Nathan Rimmington (2-29 off 3.3) then took two wickets in the 16th over including that of Virender Sehwag (52 off 44), to send Delhi tumbling to 6-96.
It was 7-104 in the 18th over when Nathan Coulter-Nile (1-25 off 4) had Naman Ojha (6 off 11) caught behind.
Delhi needed eight off the last over bowled by Rimmington and Agarkar (11 not out off 7) and Pawan Negi (7 not out off 7) each hit a boundary to secure a win with three balls remaining.