Unbeaten half-centuries from Alex Hales and Sherfane Rutherford helped Desert Vipers to a comfortable 7-wicket win over MI Emirates in their DP World IL T20 at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi.
After the Vipers won the toss and elected to field first, Emirates got off to the worst start in the innings as they dismissed openers Muhammad Wasim (5) and Vritiya Aravind (3) within the first three overs.
West Indies player Andre Fletcher and former West Indies captain Nicholas Pooran put on a 43-run stand for the third wicket before Fletcher fell in the ninth over for 21 to leave them 53-3.
Then captain Kieron Pollard joined Pooran on the crease and the two of them engaged in an excellent batting and finally built a 100-run partnership in the 19th over and Pooran scored 50 runs in the same over.
Pollard brought up his 50, his second in a row, with a trademark straight six in the previous over. The partnership reached 116 when Pooran was finally dismissed, bowled by Tom Curran in the final over for 57.
In the end, Pollard scored an unbeaten 67 off 39 balls with a four and six sixes as Emirates scored 169 for 20 overs. It was not a great day for West Indian bowlers with only Sheldon Cottrell (1 for 20 in four overs) registering respectable figures for the victorious Vipers.
The Vipers’ chase rocked early as Trent Boult bowled Rohan Mustafa for one in the first over to bring captain Colin Munro to the crease. However, Sherafane Rutherford’s brilliant half-century kept Desert Vipers at the top of the points table.
Chasing a tough target of 170 runs, Rutherford scored 76 runs for 3 wickets while the Vipers team needed 94 runs from 73 balls to defeat the MI Emirates team.
The Guyanese scored 56 off 29 balls with three sixes, while Alex Hales made an unbeaten 62 off 44 balls, before Rutherford hit a four and a single in the 17th over to take the Vipers to their fourth win in five games. Player of Match ($1500) Sherfane Rutherford
Dwayne Bravo went wicketless for 24 runs in his three overs for MI Emirates.
The Desert Vipers are on eight points after five games with only one loss and lead by net run rate over the Gulf Giants. MI Emirates and Sharjah Warriors round off the top four in the six-team tournament.
Speaking about their performance Desert Vipers’ Sherfane Rutherford said,
“I want to keep things simple and just watch the ball. I was just trying to react to the ball. The key was just to use the pace and that worked for me.”
Player of the match, Sherfane Rutherford, was delighted with his hard-hitting performance 🏏
Watch him talk about carrying his team to victory, his fellow batters, and #DPWorldILT20.#ALeagueApart #MIEvDV @TheDesertVipers pic.twitter.com/7Nc52k2xr8
— International League T20 (@ILT20Official) January 24, 2023
Meanwhile, MI Emirates’ Trent Boult said,
“It becomes easier to bat on in the second innings here. I thought they played extremely well. They timed their innings quite nicely. That’s a luxury when you’re chasing 170.”
Brief Scores: MI Emirates 169 for 5 in 20 overs (Andre Fletcher 21, Nicholas Pooran 57, Kieron Pollard 67n.o, Tom Curran 2 for 38)
Desert Vipers 170 for 3 in 16.3 overs (Alex Hales 62n.o, Colin Munro 41, Sherfane Rutherford 56n.o, Samit Patel 2 for 23)