David Wiese’s late onslaught against the Sydney Sixers helped the Titans set a competitive target for the opposition in the second semi-final of the Karbonn Champions League Twenty20 2012. The all-rounder took the Sixers pacers head on to race to 61 off 28 balls. His unbeaten knock was the highest score in the match today. After taking a few balls to settle down, he first smacked Pat Cummins over square-leg for six and from there on there was no looking back for the batsman. With his cameo, Wiese helped set up a thrilling contest for the crowd that had gathered at the Supersport Park on Friday evening.

Unfortunately, despite Wiese’s blitzkrieg, Henry Davids’ controlled innings and a brilliant fielding performance, the Titans’ lost to the Sixers by two wickets in a nail-biting last-ball finish.

Wiese spoke to clt20.com after about his innings and the match.

Excerpts from the brief interview with Wiese:

On the one thing that he would take from this game

I think it’s just that we were never out of it. We got off to a bad start and we pulled it off in our batting and they got off to a great start and we pulled it back again with our bowling. 20 overs seemed short but we were just never out of it.

On the batting strategy

While batting we didn’t get off to a great start, but we thought that if we could just take the game deep and have wickets in hand we could make a late charge.

On whether the plan was for Henry Davids to hang in there and hold up one end

Yes, we have always said that we wanted one of the top five batsmen to bat through and he did a beautiful job for us to day.

On when they decided to go after the bowling

We just like to see what the situation is in the game. And usually it’s the last three to four overs that you start to accelerate and see how much you can get.

On his batting

I like playing at Supersport Park. It’s one of my favourite grounds. Whenever I go out there it is always special to bat and feels good. It was just one of those days when you see the ball and you hit it and it just comes off and that’s what Twenty20 cricket is all about.

On contributing with the ball as well

It is always nice to get the ball in the hand and see what happens. It is a batter’s game, so you got to hope for the best.

On the Titans brilliant effort in the field

We worked hard on our fielding. We pride ourselves in our fielding. We try and be the best fielding unit in the country and in the tournament. I think the guys put in a lot of effort into that.

On whether he expects the phone to ring with IPL offers

That would be nice; it is a big goal of mine. But at this stage I just want to do my bit for the Titans and take it from there.