Openers Alex Hales and Chris Lynn lifted Team Abu Dhabi past Northern Warriors in the second match of the fourth day in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Saturday. After Northern Warriors were restricted to 95 for 7, Alex Hales through a knock of 44 and Chris Lynn scoring 31 runs, put on a 69 runs partnership and recorded an eight wicket win with two balls to spare.
Northern Warriors had won the toss and elected to bat with openers Adam Lyth and Kennar Lewis on the prowl for quick runs. Lyth hit opening over for three boundaries off Naveen-ul-Haq but Peter Hatzoglou was miserly as usual. He gave away just one run in the second over and followed it up with another terrific over, where he conceded five runs and picked up a wicket.
Rovman Powell took up the challenge to accelerate the scoring rate and hit Amad Butt’s first delivery of the seventh over for a six over third man followed by another six over deep square leg.
Cheered by the Saturday crowd, Sherfane Rutherford too hit a six to the same region and take 21 runs off that over. When Tye bowled the eighth over, Powell hit his second delivery for a six to long-off. He also hit the fourth delivery for a boundary and fifth for another six.
Tye ended Powell’s knock with the last ball of the over having him caught by Naveen for 29. His knock of 29 runs in 10 balls had one boundary and four sixes. Rutherford picked another six off Rashid to mid-wicket but fell two balls later.
The chances of Northern Warriors going past the 100 run mark faded when Naveen, who bowled the last over, ismissed Abhimanyu Mithun and Isuru Udana. Northern Warriors could thus muster only 95/7 in 10 overs.
Required rate was under 10 for Abu Dhabi and they began with Alex Hales flicking the first ball from Mohammad Irfan to fine leg boundary. Chris Lynn got in the act next over, scoring 12 runs and the side followed it up with 10 more runs in the next over.
The fact that Team Abu Dhabi hadn’t lost a wicket gave them the confidence and Hales hit Isuru Udana for two boundaries in the fourth over. Hales then hit the first ball of the fifth over from Irfan for a boundary to deep point. He also hit the third delivery over mid-off as their partnership went past the 50-run mark through a six by Hales over long-on.
With only 41 runs were needed in the next 30 balls, Team Abu Dhabi began to the take control of the match. This 69 partnership ended in the seventh over when Rayad Emrit had Hales caught by Gus Atkinson for 44. His knock off 25 balls had six boundaries and two sixes. James Vince who joined Lynn accelerated the race to the target hitting Atkinson for three boundaries in the eight over.
Emrit bowled a good ninth over to delay Team Abu Dhabi’s victory giving away just seven runs. When one run was needed off the last three balls, Mithun ended Lynn’s fine knock of 31 by clean bowling him. Brandon King walked in and hit the victory run off the fourth ball of the last over, wide of the mid-on fielder, for a boundary.
Brief scores:
Northern Warriors 95/7 in 10 overs (Adam Lyth 22, Rovman Powell 29, Naveen Ul Haq 2 for 19, Andrew Tye 2 for 19) lost to Team Abu Dhabi 96/2 in 9.4 overs (Alex Hales 44, Chris Lynn 31)
Player of the Match: Alex Hales
