Abu Dhabi: Delhi Bulls captain Dwayne Bravo, Waqas Maqsood and Nyeem Young destroyed the strong Northern Warriors batting to restrict them to 97 for 7 and place their team in the final of the Alubond Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Friday (February 5).
Bravo, who had captained Maratha Arabians to their title triumph in the last edition, took the prize wickets of Warriors skipper Nicholas Pooran and aggressive Lendl Simmons for figures of two wickets for 14. He was backed by Maqsood with two wickets for 24 runs and Nyeem Young with two wickets for 22 runs. Chasing the moderate target, Sherfane Rutherford through a breezy 29 off 10 balls and Tom Abell’s 11-ball unbeaten 23 ensured Bulls a five-wicket win with eight balls to spare in the first qualifier.
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Maqsood struck again with the first ball of the second over by forcing Waseem to edge to wicketkeeper Rahmanullah Gurbaz for 5. Pooran hit Maqsood over the square leg for another six. Off the last ball of that over, Rovman Powell got run out for 1 to a direct hit by Sherfane Rutherford at backward point to the wicketkeeper’s end. Powell, who had remained unbeaten six times consecutively in this tournament thus got out for the first time.
Chasing the target, the aggressive Gurbaz hit Wahab Riaz’s second delivery of the first over to backward square leg for a six. He also hit the last delivery of the first over for a boundary In the second over, Lewis hit Junaid Siddique’s first delivery for a boundary. He also hit the second delivery for a six to long-on. Siddique struck back having Lewis caught at deep mid-wicket for 10 and also had Gurbaz caught at the same positon for 14. Rutherford began by lifting Wayne Parnell for a six over long-on. He repeated the same shot off the third ball to get another six. He went on to hit Parnell for two consecutive boundaries off the last two balls to take 23 runs off that over.
Rutherford then carved an upper cut off Siddique over backward point for a six. With the next ball, he trapped Rutherford leg before for 29. Siddique also trapped Mohammad Nabi leg before with the last ball of the fourth over. Rayad Emrit gave aways just three runs and at the half way mark, Bulls were 60 for 4 needing another 38 runs from the last five overs.
Bulls slipped into further trouble when Bravo hit Dhananjaya Lakshan straight to Allen at mid-wicket for 5. Abell joined Ravi Bopara, and together they took up the challenge. Abell first hit Parnell for a six to mid-wicket. He then hit Parnell for two consecutive boundaries to place Bulls close to the target. Bopara finished off in style by hitting Allen for a six over long-off to put his team in to the final. Abell hit an unbeaten 23 while Bopara remained unconquered on 15.
Brief Scores: Delhi Bulls 102 for 5 in 8.4 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 29, Tom Bell 23n.o, Junaid Siddiqui 4 for 20) beat Northern Warriors 97 for 7 in 10 overs (Nicholas Pooran 32, Waqas Maqsood 2 for 24, Dwayne Bravo 2 for 14, Nyeem Young 2 for 22) by five wickets.
Team Abu Dhabi VS Qalandars
An insipid batting performance from Qalandars resulted in their team that looked formidable with five consecutive victories crash to Team Abu Dhabi by six wickets in the first eliminator of the Alubond Abu Dhabi 10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Abu Dhabi bowlers led by Naveen Ul Haq (2 for 6) Obed McCoy (2 for 11) and Tom Helm (2 for 22) restricted the strong Qalandars to 83 for 7. If not for Shahid Afridi’s 24 runs, Qalandar would have landed up posting a smaller total. Qalandars show was an instance of failing to peak at the right time. Chasing an easy target, Abu Dhabi won through Ben Duckett’s stubborn unbeaten 27 and Joe Clarke’s invaluable 22 runs. They won with eight balls to spare.
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The only chance for Qalandars to get back into the game was by removing the aggressive openers Chris Gayle and Paul Stirling quickly. Gayle began by picking a boundary off Sohail Tanvir to backward point. In the second over, Gayle hit the first delivery from Ahmed Daniyal to mid-wicket for a six. Daniyal struck with the fourth ball by forcing Gayle to top edge to wicketkeeper Dunk for 15. Stirling too followed in the third over from Sultan Ahmed, brilliantly caught by Banton at the long-on boundary for 4. Ahmed clean bowled skipper Luke Wright with an arm ball for a duck.
Duckett square drove Daniyal for a boundary but Abu Dhabi could get only nine runs off that over. Jordan had Clarke caught by Sharjeel at backward square leg for 22 and gave away just five runs. Duckett picked two boundaries off Mohammad Zahid’s eighth over to take the team close to the target. Najibullah hit the winning run by lifting Jordan for a six over wide long off.
Brief scores: Team Abu Dhabi 88 for 4 in 8.4 overs (Ben Duckett 27n.o, Joe Clarke 22, Sultan Ahmed 2 for 21) beat Qalandars 83 for 7 in 10 overs (Shahid Afridi 24, Tom Helm 2 for 22, Naveen Ul Haq 2 for 6, Obed McCoy 2 for 11) by six wickets.
Northern Warriors VS Team Abu Dhabi
Northern Warriors’ power-hitters Lendl Simmons and Rovman Powell led their team into the final of the Alubond Abu Dhabi T10 final. Displaying their stupendous power-hitting, Warriors downed Team Abu Dhabi in the Eliminator 2 match to pull off a seven-wicket win with two balls to spare.
Opening the innings Simmons, remained unbeaten on 46 off 27 balls with three boundaries and three sixes after Powell set the momentum for the chase through an aggressive 49 off 24 balls with five boundaries and two sixes. Earlier, Abu Dhabi had posted a challenging 114 for 7 through Paul Stirling’s quick 48 off 13 balls with six sixes and three boundaries. If not for Fabian Allen’s deadly four wicket spell for 13 runs, Abu Dhabi could have posted a bigger total. Warriors will take on Delhi Bulls in the final on Saturday.
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Siddique picked the prize wicket of Gayle, caught at long-on by Fabian Allen for 7. That brought in Ben Duckett, who had scored a stubborn unbeaten 27 in the previous match to ensure his team’s victory against Qalandars. He hit Maheesh Theekshana for two consecutive boundaries in the fifth over. At the half way mark, Abu Dhabi were 70 for 2.
Simmons and Rovman Powell hit one boundary each off Mustafa’s sixth over. Naveen once again bowled tightly giving away only two boundaries. With 49 runs needed off the last three overs, both batsmen struggled to force the pace and the asking rate kept mounting. Powell hit Overton for boundary and six in the eight over. This reduced the target to 34 from 12 balls.
Simmons pulled McCoy for a six and this was followed by substitute fielder Kaushal Malla dropping Simmons at deep square leg. Powell hit McCoy to long-on to reduce the target to a gettable 16 runs from seven balls but McCoy clean bowled Powell for 49 with the last ball of the ninth over. Warriors needed 16 runs off the last six balls and Helm began the last over by bowling a wide. Simmons pulled Helm for a six. He then got two runs off the next ball and pulled the fourth delivery for a six to equal the score. Helm again bowled a wide delivery and Warriors won the match to sail into the final.
Brief scores: Northern Warriors 115 for 3 in 9.4 overs (Lendl Simmons 46n.o, Rovman Powell 49) beat Team Abu Dhabi 114 for 7 in 10 overs (Paul Stirling 48, Fabian Allen 4 for 13) by seven wickets.
