SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates, CMC – A disruptive spell from former West Indies Twenty20 captain Carlos Brathwaite topped an equally troublesome spell from Dutch international Roelof van der Merwe, and defending champions Gulf Giants held their nerve to clinch a three-wicket win against Dubai Capitals in the ILT20 on Saturday.
Brathwaite bagged three for 26 from his allotted four overs, and the Capitals were restricted to 132 for seven from their allocation of 20 overs on a slow Sharjah International Cricket Stadium pitch after they decided to bat.
Van der Merwe returned the favor with three for 27 from 3.2 overs, but it was not enough, and English wicketkeeper-batsman Jordan Cox ushered the Giants over the finish line with 38 not out to give them their second win in four matches.
Barbadian all-rounder Dominic Drakes, son of former Barbados and West Indies all-rounder Vasbert Drakes, formalized the result with eight balls remaining when he drove van der Merwe through extra cover for his only boundary to end on ten not out.
“I just wanted to hit the stumps more often,” Brathwaite said after he was named Player-of-the-Match. “There was a bit of pressure to bowl after Richard [Gleeson] and Dominic [Drakes], but I was happy to have delivered in an important match.”
The Giants’ chase did not start well after former West Indies all-formats captain Jason Holder bowled England international Jamie Smith for one in the first over.
Australian Chris Lynn, a familiar face to the Caribbean Premier League fans, led the charge for the Giants with three fours and three sixes in 37 from 22 balls, and he put on 57 for the second wicket with his captain, Englishman James Vince, to make sure they did not waste the Power Play.
Left-hander Vince etched his name in history for passing 10,000 runs in elite T20s with two fours and two sixes in 28 off 19 balls.
Lynn and Vince fell in successive overs, and Giants stumbled to 67 for three in the eighth over and, with Cox leading the way, cruised past 100 before four wickets – two apiece to Zimbabwe international Sikandar Raza and van der Merwe – interrupted the flow.
Raza removed hometown boy Usman Khan for 14 and West Indies left-hander Shimron Hetmyer for a second-ball duck before van der Merwe added the scalps of Brathwaite and Barbados-born England all-rounder Chris Jordan for one and a first-ball duck, respectively.
Giants were 119 for seven, but they required 14 from 32 balls, and Cox and Drakes ensured they did not have to panic.
Brathwaite removed retired Australia Test left-hander David Warner for 21 and England international Sam Billings for 10. Jordan got West Indies T20 captain Rovman Powell for the same score before the Capitals reached 100.
They were 92 for six in the 16th over, and Raza, who led St Lucia Kings in the CPL last year, hit 47 from 36 balls to propel them to a respectable total before Brathwaite got him in the penultimate over.
In the day’s first match at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi, a tidy performance from West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell enabled the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders to grab a six-wicket win against Desert Vipers.
Russell grabbed two for 29 from his four overs. Still, Pakistan left-arm spinner Imad Wasim, who played for the deactivated Jamaica Tallawahs in the CPL last year, was the pick of the Knight Riders bowlers with two for 19 from his four overs, and the Vipers were restricted to 154 for eight.
West Indies left-hander Sherfane Rutherford played a supporting role in the Vipers innings with 28 off 21 balls that included four fours before falling to Russell in the penultimate over, and retired West Indies off-spinner Sunil Narine, the Knight Riders captain, snared one for 23 from four overs for his side.
Russell followed up with 24 not out and shared 47 unbroken for the fifth wicket with Alishan Sharafu, whose 82 off 47 balls was the top score, to usher Knight Riders over the finish line with 16 balls remaining.
and then 