Northern Warriors’ Kennar Lewis, Hazratullah Zazai shine in 10-wicket win

Lewis and Zazai batted smoothly, hitting sixes and boundaries with ease. Lewis remained unbeaten on 46 off 27 balls with five boundaries and two sixes, while Zazai, who started slowly, went on to crack an unbeaten 52 off 27 balls with five boundaries and three sixes.

Tight spell

England’s Alex Hales and Tom Banton opened the innings for Team Abu Dhabi. Angelo Mathews, fresh from his hat-trick spell in his last match against Samp Army, bowled a tight opening over giving away just three runs. UAE’s Angur Sanghwan who bowled the second over would have got Banton out for 6 had Kennar Lewis at mid-off managed to hold on to a tough mis-hit shot. Banton celebrated his luck by hitting the next two deliveries for boundaries to take 15 runs off that over.

Banton greeted Azmatullah Omarzai with a six in the third over. He also pulled the fifth ball of that over for another six. When runs were flowing smoothly, Tabraiz Shamsi struck with the fourth ball of the fourth over by getting Banton caught by Hazratullah Zazai at deep mid-wicket. His knock of 33 runs from 17 balls had three boundaries and two sixes.

Hales carried on his big hit with Colin Ingram even pulling James Neesham effortlessly for a six. That took Abu Dhabi past the 50-run mark in 4.2 overs. India’s Abhimanyu Mithun gave away only a boundary and also picked the wicket of Ingram, caught by Mathews at long off for 10 in the sixth over.

Aggressive approach

Now Team Abu Dhabi needed some big hits. Leus du Plooy, fresh from his unbeaten knock of 47 against Chennai Braves, got out to a duck to Neesham, caught by Lewis at long-on. When only three more overs were left, Hales too got out to Shamsi, caught by Zazai at deep-mid-wicket for 20.

UAE’s Asif Khan hit Shamsi for a six to deep mid-wicket. Dwaine Pretorius fell to Mathews hitting high to Colin Munro at covers for 2. UAE’s Alishan Sharafu smashed Mathews over the cover for a six. A top edge from Asif went for a six to third man off Azmatullah. Ultimately, he got run out to the second ball of the last over for 19. Azmatullah then trapped Sharafu leg before for 9. Roelof van der Merwe sliced the last ball of the innings to the third man boundary to take the score past the 100-run mark.

Chasing the gettable target of 104 runs, Northern Warrior’s opener Lewis began aggressively. He hit Binura Fernando for 15 runs in the first over that included three boundaries. He also lofted Rumman Raees over mid-off for a boundary. James Fuller, who bowled the third over, was also hit to the fine leg boundary and a six over mid-wicket. Lewis hardly gave Zazai the strike and scored 32 out of the 35 runs on board by the end of the third over.

Northern Warriors reached the 50-run mark with a mighty six by Lewis to mid-wicket off Pretorius. Zazai who played second fiddle, hit Raees for a straight boundary. With only 35 runs needed from 24 balls, Zazai hit his second six off Noor Ahmad. He went on to overtake Lewis with a boundary and a six off Pretorius to reach his half century in 27 balls.

Samp Army beat Chennai Braves

Chennai Braves gave Samp Army the jitters before bowing to a seven-wicket defeat with one ball to spare in a hard fought match at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Braves bravely battled to check Samp Army’s run flow despite fine knocks from openers Andries Gous (43) and Faf du Plessis (31). The match hung in balance till the fifth ball of the last over when Najibulllah Zadran hit a six to win the match.

Brief scores: Northern Warriors bt Team Abu Dhabi by 10 wkts. Team Abu Dhabi 103 for 7 in 10 overs (Tom Banton 33, Alex Hales 20, Tabraiz Shamsi 2 for 17) Northern Warriors (Kennar Lewis 46n.o. Hazratullah Zazai 52n.o). Player of the Match: Tabraiz Shamsi