Sussex and Somerset leave for Champions League
Sussex Sharks captain Michael Yardy confident of success
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By Darren Estwick. |  |
Sunday, 04, Oct 2009 01:24
By Huw Davies.
English clubs Sussex Sharks and Somerset Sabres have left for India with high hopes of performing well in the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League tournament.
Sussex and Somerset qualified for the first Champions League tournament as winners and runners-up, respectively, in the English Twenty20 Cup.
The newly-formed Champions League features teams from all over the Twenty20 cricketing world who did well in their domestic competitions, including Diamond Eagles from South Africa and the New South Wales Blues from Australia who will both play Sussex in the group stage.
And Sharks captain Michael Yardy is wary of the talent on display - New South Wales' team features Australian Test players Brett Lee, Simon Katich and Nathan Hauritz among others - but insisted his players won't be overawed by the occasion.
"A lot of our guys have been to India before," Yardy told inthenews.co.uk.
"It's a bit of a challenge because you're looking to people's best players and obviously want to counteract them. But that's not a disadvantage for us, because everyone's in the same situation.
"I think what we've done well in domestic cricket is really concentrated on the way we play one-day and Twenty20 cricket, and I don't think we'll lose that focus."
Sussex's first fixture is against New South Wales Blues on October 11th, while the Somerset Sabres play the Deccan Chargers of India the day before, who number Adam Gilchrist, Andrew Symonds and VVS Laxman among their players.