Malinga leads Mumbai Indians into Twenty20 final

Yorkers skittle Someset, write Sapa-AP-AFP and Reuters from Chennai

Sri Lanka paceman Lasith Malinga has delivered deadly accurate yorkers almost at will to lead the Mumbai Indians to a 10-run win over Somerset and a place in the Champions League Twenty20 final against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The unorthodox Malinga, with his low-arm slinging action, clean-bowled four batsmen with swinging yorkers as Mumbai restricted the English county to 150 for seven.

The curly-haired Sri Lankan picked up two wickets in his opening spell and returned at the end to claim two more as he finished with figures of four for 20.

England's limited-overs opener Craig Kieswetter hit a 46-ball 62 but his dismissal by New Zealander James Franklin (2/16) ended Somerset's hopes of reaching Sunday's final.

With Somerset needing 22 off two overs, Franklin gave away just seven runs with his left-arm medium pace.

Mumbai, without Sachin Tendulkar and Rohit Sharma due to injury, earlier compiled 160 for five after deciding to bat first with Australian Aiden Blizzard bludgeoning 54 in 39 deliveries.

They slammed 52 in the last five overs thanks to Rajagopal Sathish (12-ball 25) and Suryakumar Yadav (19-ball 23).

The final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium will feature two sides from the Indian Premier League.

David Warner's second unbeaten century in a row for New South Wales went in vain on Friday as Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli made short work of a steep 204-run target to power Royal Challengers Bangalore to the final.

West Indian Gayle, who made 92 from 41 balls and India's Kohli (a 49-ball 84) blasted 141 runs for the second wicket as Bangalore chased down the target with nine balls and six wickets to spare.

• Jade Dernbach, Craig Kieswetter and Ravi Bopara have been given 12-month contracts by England after playing key roles in one-day series victories against India and Sri Lanka.

The England and Wales Cricket Board named South Africa-born Dernbach after he established himself as a permanent fixture in England's limited-overs teams.

Kieswetter, a wicketkeeper-batsman has combined well with Alastair Cook at the top of the order while Bopara made important contributions with the bat in the 3-0 series win over India, hitting 96 in the tied match at Lord's.

Rather than 12-month central contracts, the trio have been given increment contracts, which involve playing a set number of matches during a given period.

• Pace bowler Steven Finn claimed a late hat trick yesterday as England XI beat Hyderabad XI by 56 runs in a practice game ahead of a limited-overs series against India.

Finn cleaned up the tail to finish with 4/28 as Hyderabad were bowled out for 163 in 36.5 overs in reply to England XI's 219 all out in 47.2 overs.