Champions League T20

Auckland found conditions to their liking in Johannesburg and used them with ruthless efficiency to dispatch Pakistan's Sialkot Stallions with almost three overs to spare in their opening Champions League T20 match.

David Miller returned to the crease after being hit in the face by Umar Gul to guide Yorkshire to a tense last-over win against Uva Next as the Champions League T20 got underway in Johannesburg.

Fast bowler Aavishkar Salvi has been drafted in to replace Varun Aaron in Delhi Daredevil's squad for the Champions League Twenty20. Aaron has to undergo an operation to clear tonsilitis and Salvi, 30, has a chance to add to the seven matches he has already played for the Daredevils.

The 14 teams competing in the 2012 Champions League Twenty20 have named their 15-man squads in preparation for the start of the tournament on 9th October. Six teams will be entered into the qualifying phases and the two winners will progress to the main tournament, joining the eight teams that qualified automatically.

The schedule and format for the 2012 Champions League T20 has been announced. As before there will be a qualifying tournament which precedes the main competition and will start on 9th October, with the tournament proper getting underway on 13th October.

The 2012 Champions League Twenty20 tournament is will be held in South Africa in October. Cape Town, Johannesburg, Centurion and Durban are expected to the host venues. South Africa hosted the Champions League in 2010 while India has hosted the competition twice.

The Mumbai Indians claimed their maiden tournament victory as they won a low-scoring Champions League Twenty20 final by 31 runs over the Royal Challengers Bangalore. James Franklin top scored with 41 as Mumbai were bowled out for 139 but they hit back to dismiss the Bangalore side for 108 with captain Harbhajan Singh leading the way with figures of three for 20.

Lasith Malinga doubled his tally of wickets for the tournament in one innings as the Mumbai Indians qualified for the Champions League Twenty20 final with a ten-run win over Somerset. Malinga's haul of four for 20 ensured Somerset closed on 150 for seven after Mumbai had reached 160 for five and the result set up an all-Indian Premier League final with the Royal Challengers Bangalore already qualified.

For the second game in a row, the Royal Challengers Bangalore chased down more than 200 to beat an Australian side as they booked their place in the final of the Champions League Twenty20 with a six-wicket win over New South Wales. David Warner scored his second straight century as the Blues made 203 for two but that proved inadequate as a 141-run partnership between Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli saw the Challengers home.

Following 17 days of high drama, thrills, spills, unlikely heroes and exciting finishes, just four teams remain in the Champions League Twenty20 - Mumbai Indians, New South Wales, Somerset and Royal Challengers Bangalore. Here were preview the semi-finals.

The Royal Challengers Bangalore qualified for the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 by winning their final group game against South Australia with a six off the final ball. Wicket-keeper Arun Karthik smashed Daniel Christian over midwicket as the home side pulled off the sixth highest run chase in Twenty20 history and easily the highest run chase in Champons League cricket.

Somerset booked their place in the semi-finals of the Champions League Twenty20 by beating 2010 runners-up Warriors by 12 runs in Bangalore. Craig Kieswetter scored an unbeaten half-century as Somerset posted 146 for four and they then restricted the Warriors to just 127 for eight in reply.

A century from David Warner was enough to secure New South Wales' place in the semi-finals at the expense of match losers Chennai Super Kings and the day's earlier victors Trinidad & Tobago. Mumbai Indians join New South Wales in qualifying for the semi-finals from Group A, while tomorrow’s fixtures, which see Somerset take on the Warriors at 1030 GMT and Royal Challengers Bangalore take on South Australia at 1430, will determine their opponents.

Trinidad & Tobago's Kevon Cooper timed a late blast of 25 not out in 11 balls perfectly to knock the Cape Cobras out of the Champions League Twenty20. A two-wicket victory for the West Indians meant that half-centuries from Owais Shah and Dane Vilas as well as three wickets from captain Justin Kemp were in vain.

The mercurial Chris Gayle was at his brilliant best as the Royal Challengers Bangalore demolished Somerset in Bangalore by 51 runs. The left-handed Gayle hit eight sixes during his innings of 86 from 46 balls and was particularly savage on medium-pacer Peter Trego who was dispatched for 50 runs from only three overs. Virat Kohli (33 from 22 balls) and Tillakaratne Dilshan (23 from 16) also added fluent cameos, meaning that the home side finished with a mammoth total of 206 for six from their 20 overs.

Trinidad & Tobago and Chennai Super Kings have to hope that other results go their way if either of them are to have any chance of qualifying for the semi-finals after the former beat the latter by 12 runs in the second of today's matches. Tomorrow sees Royal Challengers Bangalore take on Somerset in Bangalore at 1430 GMT.

New South Wales made hard work of beating the Mumbai Indians in today’s Group A game in Chennai. The result means that New South Wales have two wins from three matches and blows Group A wide open, with Mumbai having played all of their games and also having two wins to put them on five points.

The Kolkata Knight Riders beat Warriors by 22-runs in a rain-shortened match in Bangalore. The Warriors lost Ashwell Prince for four in the second over but a second-wicket stand of 80 between Jon-Jon Smuts (46 from 43 balls) and Colin Ingram got them back into the box seats.

The top-of-the-table Champions League Twenty20 clash between Mumbai Indians and Cape Cobras in Group A ended in stalemate as heavy rain forced the match to be abandoned at the halfway stage. Cobras' skipper Justin Kemp won the toss and inserted the Indians on an unusually fast-paced pitch, but any early movement that was there for the bowlers was more than negated by Sarul Kanwar's crisp 45 from only 21 balls.

The Kolkata Knight Riders stunned the Royal Challengers Bangalore in front of their home ground with a clinical nine-wicket Champions League Twenty20 win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. The Bangalore side rallied well to score 169 for nine but they were then blown away by an unbroken 109-run stand between Jacques Kallis and Gautam Gambhir.