It didn't go according to the script. The first semi-final of the Champions League T20 between the traditional Australian rivals turned out to be a lopsided affair, with New South Wales Blues chalking out a comprehensive 79 -run victory over Victoria Bushrangers.

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.

... contd.