Finally, Auckland Aces moved to the Super Smash final! Yes, the same team that already won the four titles of the tournament already. Earlier, the first finalist of the competition had been selected. Wellington Firebirds is the first finalist. The team Auckland Aces had to play the preliminary final and by winning the round, Auckland Aces moved to the Super Smash final!
A total of six participants took place in the season of Super Smash where each team played ten group level match. Auckland Aces were on the 3rd position after the group stage and so, they had to play the playoff round against the 2nd ranked team Otago Volts. On the other side, Wellington Firebirds moved to the final as the top team in the group stage.
At the University Oval, Dunedin earlier today these two teams Otago Volts and Auckland Aces faced against each other. The team Auckland Aces won the toss and decided to bowl first.
So, Otago came to bat. Hamish Rutherford and Neil Broom opened the innings for the team. But their opening partnership was not as expected. In just 8 runs, they lost the first wicket Hamish Rutherford. He only scored 4 runs so far. Just 17 runs later, the team lost 2nd wicket. Neil Broom returned to the dressing room scoring 11 runs only. The 3rd wicket partnership led the team to a good total. The partnership was between Nick Kelly and Dean Foxcroft. Neil Kelly scored the highest 60 runs and Dean added 31 runs so far. Anaru Kitchen scored another 21 runs. In the end, Nathan G Smith scored 22 runs so far. Losing 8 wickets, the team Otago scored 174 runs in 20 overs.
Later, Auckland started to chase the score. 174 is a big score in T20 cricket no doubt. But Aces played well. They also lost their opener Colin Munro so early. He scored only 7 runs. Martin Guptill added the highest 43 runs. In 19.5 overs, the team Aces reached their milestone. In 19.5 overs, Auckland Aces made the target successfully.
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