Desert Vipers bag win against Dubai Capitals after fighting tooth and nail
Desert Vipers bag their fifth win against Dubai Capitals in an action-packed encounter with economical death bowling, courtesy of Tom Curran and Matheesha Pathirana
Desert Vipersbagged another win by 12 runs after fighting tooth and nail againstDubai Capitalsin a last over thriller in the ILT20. While Skipper Colin Munro was the highest run-scorer for the Vipers with 40 runs to only manage 149/9 in the first innings, Vipers’ bowlers bowled economically, courtesy ofTom CurranandMatheesha Pathiranain the death overs, to defend 150 runs against a determined Capitals side to take the side to another victory.
Dubai Capitals’ openers Robin Uthappa and Hazratullah Zazai both fell to the hands of theGus AtkinsonandSheldon Cottrellopening duo. After them, Chirag Suri and Dasun Shanaka attempted to kickstart the innings, but they could only manage 36 in the powerplay. Shanaka tried to power through with a couple of sixes in the middle, but it all failed whenWanindu Hasarangastruck for the Vipers to dismiss his fellow Sri Lankan. The Vipers gained more control as Suri fell at 53/4, courtesy ofRohan Mustafa. Capitals’ skipper Rovman Powell and Sikandar Raza tried to resurrect the innings with their 32-run partnership, but Raza’s attempt at a later dab was caught behind by Billings, again off Mustafa. Yusuf Pathan joined the run chase as the Capitals needed 65 off seven overs.
The veteran Pathan treated onlookers to some of his trademark shots by going for a four and six off Tom Curran in the 16th over. Matheesha Pathiranapulled back for the Vipers as he bowled an economical 17th over and gave away just three runs with the Capitals needing 30 runs at that point.
Tom Curran was thrown into the mix by skipper Munro, who managed to restrict Pathan to just a boundary in the 18th over. Meanwhile, Pathirana too made things harder for the Capitals in the 19th over by just giving away six runs. Curran capped off proceedings by giving just four runs away and securing a comprehensive victory over the Dubai Capitals as they could only amass 175/5 in their 20 over-quota.
Earlier, the Desert Vipers got off to a relatively slow start having lost their opening batters within three overs. Rohan Mustafa was the first to go, after being caught behind by Uthappa. Akif Raja got a big wicket of Alex Hales in the third over when the batter completely missed his inswinger.
SkipperColin MunroandSam Billingswere then able to stabilize innings putting up a 65-run partnership in 42 balls. Munro got off to a strong start with some emphatic batting against Fred Klassen. Two boundaries and a six in the fourth over from the New Zealander saw the Vipers gain momentum. Billings joined in shortly after with some big hitting against Akif Rajas’ medium-pace bowling. Billings and Munro fought back by ending the powerplay for the Vipers with 68/2.
However, this momentum soon dipped when Billings fell to Adam Zampa. He looked to sweep the spinner’s delivery, but missed. The umpire’s decision forced the Englishman to depart for a mere 25 off 22 balls.
Wanindu Hasaranga then came in for the Vipers but did not show signs of settling in. The Sri Lankan went to sweep Zampa’s lofty full toss at the stumps, but got caught at long on for a mere nine off seven runs.
Zampa struck again in the 14th over when skipper Munro went for a pull shot and got caught at deep wicket. Later on, some steady hitting by Tom Curran and Sherfane Rutherford anchored their team’s innings. However, the Vipers fell like dominoes in the last two overs as Rutherford, Ali Nasser and Sheldon Cottrell were all victims of Fred Klaasen. The Vipers wrapped up their 20 overs with a respectable 149 onthe board.
Brief Scores:Desert Vipers 149/9 in 20 overs (C Munro 40, S Billings 25; A Zampa 3/16) defeated Dubai Capitals 137/5 in 20 overs (Y Pathan 35*, R Powell 34*; R Mustafa 2/27)
Episode 27 – Match preview with Luke Wood
In this episode we speak with new arrival Luke Wood.
The Lancashire left-arm fast bowler was fresh off the plane from Melbourne, Australia when we caught up with him, linking up with his new team-mates as a replacement for the injured Tymal Mills ahead of the Vipers’ next match in the DP World ILT20, the clash with the Dubai Capitals at the Dubai International Stadium on Saturday the 28th of January.
Luke – who finished the Big Bash League as the leading wicket-taker for the Melbourne Stars – headed to training with his new team-mates at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City on Friday afternoon but the session the squad had was at the indoor nets, as was the case the previous day, because of persistent rain in the UAE. Thankfully the forecast for game-day on Saturday is for better weather.It’s been a terrific 12 months for Luke with England debuts in T20I and ODI action as well as a winner’s medal for the Trent Rockets in The men’s Hundred alongside fellow Vipers Alex Hales and Colin Munro and we reflected on that and more in this chat.
Episode 26 – Match reaction v MI Emirates with Colin Munro and Sherfane Rutherford
In this episode, we look back on a result that meant the Desert Vipers moved to the top of the table in the DP World ILT20, ahead of the Gulf Giants on net run rate, after a fourth win in five matches.
This latest victory was ultimately a very convincing one, by seven wickets with 3.3 overs in hand over the MI Emirates in Abu Dhabi, but the players still had to work hard for the two points.
Coming up we’ll hear from player of the match Sherfane Rutherford, whose classy unbeaten half-century steered the side home in company with Alex Hales, and also captain Colin Munro, who reflects on both this match and the first half of the Desert Vipers campaign in the group stage of the tournament.
Desert Vipers bounce back with convincing win against MI Emirates
Desert Vipers registered a win against MI Emirates to bag their fourth win in ILT20.
Desert Vipersbagged their fourth win inILT20 2023againstMI Emirateswith exceptional performances from battersAlex Hales(62* off 44) andSherfane Rutherford(56* off 29) who chased a target of 170 with relative ease.
The Vipers’ innings began with slight disappointment asRohan Mustafawalked back to the crease in the first over, but opener Alex Hales and skipperColin Munrotook it upon themselves to chase down 170, and together they managed to take the Vipers to 58 runs in the powerplay.
Munro then attempted to hit a second consecutive six in the eighth over but found Kieron Pollard instead as he took a stunning one-handed catch to send him back to the dugout for 41 runs. Sam Billings fell soon after in the same over for one.
Sherfane Rutherford got the Vipers back in the game in the 10th over with a couple of sixes. Hales also brought up his fifty off 38 balls in the 15th over.
As we approached the final few overs of the match, the win for the Vipers seemed very much obvious as they needed 19 runs off 30 balls at the end of the 15th over.
Meanwhile, Hales brought up his 17th six of the tournament to open the 16th over and Rutherford made a 26-ball fifty in the 17th over. Without any challenges, the Vipers duo hit the 170-run target in 16.3 overs to lead their team to another victory.
In the first innings, MI Emirates’ Vriitya Aravind and Muhammad Waseem opened the batting for their side. However, their stay in the middle was short asGus Atkinsonforced Aravind to walk back to the dugout in the second over, whileSheldon Cottrellgot the better of Waseem at the start of the third over.
Atkinson then appealed for an lbw against new batter Andre Fletcher in the fourth over but it was declined by the umpire. Tom Curran had an opportunity to catch and get rid of Fletcher before the end of the powerplay but dropped the ball. Emirates ended the powerplay with 35/2 on the scoreboard.
The MI franchise brought up their 50 in the eighth over courtesy a boundary from Nicholas Pooran. It seemed like both batters, Pooran and Fletcher, were settled in the middle butWanindu Hasaranga’s direct hit meant that the latter was run out as the partnership broke.
Next to the crease, Kieron Pollard started off slow but soon got into his stride with a couple of sixes. Pooran and Pollard, in fact, looked fluent in the middle and put on a great 100-run partnership with both players also bringing up their fifties.
Once the Caribbean duo recorded their 100-run stand in the 19th over, they tried to accelerate further. Pooran smashed a maximum in the penultimate over of the contest and Pollard hit a six in the final over of their innings before the former was dismissed byTom Curranwith one ball left in the innings.
The final ball of the first innings yielded another scalp for Curran, who dismissed Najibullah Zadran for a first-ball duck as the MI Emirates managed 169/5 in their 20 overs.
Brief Scores:MI Emirates 169/5 in 20 overs (K Pollard 67*,N Pooran 57; G Atkinson 2/38) lost to Desert Vipers 170/3 in 16.3 overs (A Hales 62*, S Rutherford 56*; Samit Patel 2/23)
Episode 25 – Match preview with Rohan Mustafa
In this episode we’re looking ahead to the Desert Vipers’ next match of the DP World ILT20, against MI Emirates in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday the 24th of January.
To do that we’re in the company of UAE all-rounder Rohan Mustafa who’s already made a real impact on this tournament with his buccaneering batting at the top of the order alongside Alex Hales.
Rohan will also be looking back at the side’s first loss, against the Gulf Giants on Sunday, and reflecting on his time in the Vipers set-up, and it’s safe to say he’s enjoying every moment of it!
