The Perth Scorchers’ Champions League Twenty20 hopes are on thin ice following a heavy 62-run defeat to the Otago Volts on Wednesday night.
The Scorchers were never in the hunt chasing a CLT20 record 243, after the Volts posted a mammoth 4-242, despite an impressive knock of 69 off 53 balls by Hilton Cartwright lifting the tourists to 6-180.
The loss, following a game one washout, leaves the Scorchers in a dire predicament – they will likely need to win both of their final group matches against the Rajasthan Royals and Mumbai Indians, who are powered by Australian duo Nathan Coulter-Nile and Mitchell Johnson, to progress past the group stage.
The Scorchers enjoyed the best possible start reducing the Volts to 2-9 early before being the victims of a batting masterclass from Neil Broom, who blasted an unbeaten 117.
Broom combined with Derek de Boorder (45) and Ryan ten Doeschate (66) to all but end the match before Justin Langer’s men had a chance to face a ball.
Not that the change of innings had any impact on the momentum of the clash, with opener Liam Davis dismissed for a golden duck while allrounder Ashton Agar was also removed in the first over.
Any hope of a remarkable fightback was extinguished when Simon Katich was run out without facing a ball to leave the Scorchers reeling at 3-11.