Former New Zealand duo – Shane Bond and Daniel Vettori – bowled outstandingly to help Sagittarius Strikers to win their first match in MCL. They beat Virgo Super Kings by 26 runs in their first MCL game at Dubai (DSC) on Friday night.
After winning the toss, Sagittarius skipper Adam Gilchrist chose to bat first. With the some steady top order knocks along with opener Mahela Jayawardene’s half-century, Sagittarius Strikers put 157 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. Jayawardene made 69 runs while two English batsmen Michael Carberry and Jonathan Trott scored 27 and 22 runs respectively. Skipper Gilchrist made only 13 runs. Gilchrist’s former Australian teammate Brett Lee picked up 2 wickets for Virgo.
Chasing down 158 runs, at first, Graeme Smith lead Virgo top-order collapsed in the front of pacer Shane Bond’s furious opening spell. After that, the momentum was carried on by former Kiwi spinner Daniel Vettori. Also, other bowlers gave some good support to the NZ duo.
At one stage, Virgo were 6/43; but then some lower order knocks, especially from Azhar Mahmood and Brett Lee, helped to score at least a respectable total of 131 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 20 overs. Bond and Vettori grabbed 3 wickets each in that innings for Sagittarius.
Shane Bond was awarded man of the match for his outstanding bowling effort.
Playing XI:
Sagittarius Strikers- Adam Gilchrist (C) & (wk), Mahela Jayawardene, Michael Carberry, Jonathan Trott, Phil Mustard, Yasir Arafat, Yasir Hameed, Daniel Vettori, Nathan Hauritz, Shane Bond, Krishmar Santokie.
Virgo Super Kings- Graeme Smith (C), Neil McKenzie, Owais Shah, Jonty Rhodes, Hasan Raza, Jacob Oram, James Foster (wk), Azhar Mahmood, Brett Lee, Gareth Batty, Malinga Bandara.
Brief Scores:
Sagittarius Strikers- 157/6 in 20 overs (M Jayawardene 69, M Carberry 27, B Lee 2/29)
Virgo Super Kings- 131/9 in 20 overs (Azhar Mahmood 51, B Lee 21, D Vettori 3/19)