
Karim Janat and David Miller extended Morrisville Samp Army’s winning run through an eight-wicket win over The Chennai Braves in the second match of Day 5 in the Abu Dhabi T10 at the Abu Dhabi Zayed Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Debutants Samp Army recorded their third successive victory through Janat and Miller’s unbeaten 76-run partnership for the third wicket. Janat remained unbeaten on 58 off 28 balls with six maximums and one four while Miller remained unconquered with a timely 17, helping their team win with four balls to spare after The Chennai Braves were restricted to 105 for 4 in 10 overs.
Samp Army had won the toss and elected to field. The Chennai Braves openers Adam Rossington and Dawid Malan gave a good start with Malan getting a boundary off Sheldon Cottrell’s fourth ball before Rossington smashed the last ball of the over for a six. Rossington also punished George Garton for a six to fine leg in the next over.
Anrich Nortje bowled a brilliant third over giving away just five runs but Malan made up for that in the next over from Karim Janat, hitting two consecutive sixes off the first two deliveries.
The fifth over saw Samp Army bag their first wicket, with UAE’s Ahmed Raza dismissing Rossington for 19. Dawid Malan followed his opening partner’s footsteps in the following over, departing for a well-made 32 off 20 balls.
The Prospects of a big score for the Braves began to fade when Pretorius bowled a tight eighth over giving away only eight runs.
Braves needed another 19 runs to reach the 100-run mark with only two overs left. Cottrell was re-introduced for the ninth over. Dan Lawrence rose to the challenge and hit Cottrell for a six and a four to collect a total of Seventeen runs off that over.
Nortje, who bowled the last over, had Lawrence on 21 caught by George Garton before Carlos Brathwaite departed off the final ball for 1. In the end, Braves posted 105 for 4 in 10 overs.
The Samp Army needed a steady start. Opener Johnson Charles and skipper Moeen Ali provided just that. Charles hit Olly Stone’s first over for two consecutive boundaries. Charles also punished James Fuller in a similar fashion in the following over.
Sam Cook, who bowled the third over, provided the breakthrough by getting Moeen Ali for 6 and giving away only seven runs.
Brathwaite who bowled the third over picked the important wicket of dangerous-looking Johnson Charles for 23 runs. Brathwaite gave away just seven runs in that over.
Skipper Sikander Raza introduced himself for the fifth over. He bowled a tight over until Karim Janat hit a six off the last ball to long off. Eight runs came off that over.
The sixth over from Sabir Rao too was well used by Janat to hit two successive maximums. Fifteen runs came off that over.
David Miller slog-swept Raza for a six in the seventh over and took 11 runs off that over.
With 35 runs needed off the last 18 balls, the game hung in balance. Stone bowled a tight eighth over giving away no boundary. This resulted in 26 runs needed from the last 12 balls.
Sam Cook bowled the ninth over and Janat pulled his third delivery for a six. Miller too picked a boundary off the fifth ball and 15 runs came off that over.
The last over began with Samp Army needing 11 runs off six balls. Janet hit Brathwaite’s first delivery for a six and reached his half-century in 27 balls. He also hit the second delivery for a six to win the match by eight wickets.
Brief scores:
Chennai Braves 105/4 in 10 overs (Dawid Malan 32, Anrich Nortje 2/11) lost to Morrisville Samp Army 107/2 in 9.2 overs (Karim Janat 58*, Carlos Brathwaite 19/1) by eight wickets
Player of the Match: Karim Janat