ABU DHABI: A combined bowling effort by Morrisville Samp Army bowlers, followed by Andries Gous’ 42 guided them to the six-wicket victory over Bangla Tigers with 10 balls to spare in the 20th Abu Dhabi T10 League match at the Sheikh Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Samp Army with this victory jumped to the top of the Abu Dhabi T10 League points table having lost only one game out of five games, followed by New York Strikers with three victories from four games.
Morrisville Samp Army drew first blood after opting to field as Jason Holder dismissed Pathum Nissanka to end the first over at 8-1.
Jordan Cox then played a 27-run cameo from 13 balls, laced with three sixes before Qais Ahmed ended his stay at the crease.
Karim Janat sent Kusal Mendis and Avishka Fernando in the same over to reduce to 39-4 in five overs.
Dominic Drakes looked promising and added 15 runs to the Tigers’ total but Qais Ahmed bowled him in the seventh over, followed by Daniel Sams’ wicket on the next ball.
Bangla Tigers’ skipper Benny Howell and Rohan Mustafa then made a 22-run partnership, scoring 11 runs each before the latter got out on the penultimate ball of the innings.
Tigers’ last batter Haider Ali got run out on the last ball, ending their innings at 82 runs.
Qais Ahmed and Salman Irshad returned with impressive bowling figures of 3-14 and 3-12 respectively, while, Karim Jannat picked two wickets and gave away only four runs.
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In response, Samp Army lost their opening batter Faf du Plessis in the second over with only 14 runs on the board.
Andries Gous and Ibrahim Zadran then added 35 runs off 16 balls for the second-wicket partnership which was dominated by the former.
However, both batters departed in consecutive overs, slipping Samp Army to 57-3 in the sixth over.
Gous top-scored with 42 runs from 20 balls with the help of four boundaries and three sixes.
Samp Army lost Karim Janat in the seventh over before their captain Moeen Ali and Najibullah Zadran guided them to the finish line in the ninth over.
Ali scored 12 off seven with one six, while Zadran scored 13 runs from eight balls with the help of two boundaries.
Haider Ali, Benny Howell, Carlos Brathwaite and Rohan Mustafa picked one wicket each for the Bangla Tigers.