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The sizeable crowd that turned out at the Ferozeshah Kotla did see a familiar face in David Warner, and even though the left-hander is representing the Blues in this tournament, he made himself comfortable at his adopted home. Warner started inside the V and continued to play in that region, extending his right elbow further into the shot with his dispatches to the boundary, and over it. He scored 48 off just 25 deliveries, 19 of which came in one over from Peter Siddle.
Warner spared no bowler, hitting consecutive boundaries off Shane Harwood, Siddle and Clint McKay as New South Wales got down to business straightaway after opting to bat. At the end of the powerplay, they had 56 hanging on the manual iron plates.
Warner promised more than seven boundaries and two sixes that he hit. But he had to retreat into the dugout after responding to a non-existent single as the 62-run opening partnership ended — his opening partner Philip Hughes was responsible for the dismissal, having himself earned a reprieve after Andrew McDonald failed to latch on to a difficult chance while the batsman was on 5.
Hughes then began to slog, using the horizontal blade, and its edges, to good effect in his innings of 35 from 28 deliveries, helping NSW maintain a run-rate of 9.2 at the half-way mark.
Every batsman chipped in, with Daniel Smith and Simon Katich getting starts but NSW failed in the last 10, as Victoria slowly punctuated the attacking shots, cutting down the pace on the ball, and introducing the back of length deliveries as the last 60 balls produced only 77 runs.
The Kotla wicket was still playing truant, with deliveries squatting but the score of 169 still looked solid, and turned formidable given the bowlers NSW had in their line-up. It was Victoria's reply, however, that eventually made it look like insurmountable.
Spinner Nathan Hauritz partnered Brett Lee with the new ball and spoofed Rob Quiney and Brad Hodge with his third and fifth deliveries. Aiden Blizzard then spooned a simple catch to Katich to make it 6-3, and the departure of David Hussey in the ninth over meant, the second half, where Victoria reached 90 for 9 was primarily a formality to send-off New South Wales to Hyderabad in search of $2.5m bounty.
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