Northern Warriors overrun Kerala Knights
sharjah — The T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium is being swept by the Caribbean wave, so to speak. West Indies’ Nicholas Pooran, Lendl Simmons, Rovman Powell and Andre Russell, have proved handful for their opposition, so much so, that the rest of the Northern Warriors’ batsmen have hardly felt the turf in the middle.
On Thursday, the wicket-keeper batsman Pooran once again stole the limelight in Warriors’ thumping eight-wicket triumph over defending champions Kerala Knights.
Man of the Match Pooran remained not out on 43 from 18 balls. His knock contained five sixes and two fours. Andre Russell blasted 29 from 10 balls with four massive sixes, while Powell (14) and Simmons (12) gave them a decent start as the Warriors achieved their target with 16 balls to spare.
The Warriors were coming into this match after a last-ball thrilling win against Sindhis, while Kerala Knights were taken to task by Punjabi Legends, losing by 36 runs.
Earlier, put into bat, it was surprising to see Chris Gayle and Paul Stirling get only three runs off the first over and seven off the second.
The Irishman then decided to free his arms, while the big-hitting Chris Gayle played second fiddle.
Stirling took Chris Green to the cleaners in the third over whacking him for two fours and a six to up the ante as the Knights reached 26-0.
But somehow the runs just dried
up after this and at one stage KK were 45 for no loss after five overs. With Gayle in the middle one expected fireworks but the West Indian has had a low-key tournament so far. And it continued when he fell to Andre Russell for 14 in the seventh over and Kerala had still not reached 70, this despite having some big hitters in the side and wickets in hand.
Captain Eoin Morgan joined 3.30pm vs 5.45pm vs
Stirling and the latter continued to play freely for his 60 which came off 28 balls from five sixes and three fours. The Irishman was the only saving grace for KK. It was Hardus Viljoen who ended Stirling’s super show. And, with that wicket, Viljoen joined Punjabi Legends’ Chris Jordan and Zahir Khan at the top of the bowlers’ list with eight wickets. Photo by M. Sajjad