The two franchise team’s from the sub-continent, Lahore Qalandars from Pakistan and Boost Defenders from Afghanistan made winning starts to their campaigns at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi T20 tournament.
While Boost Defenders captain Colin Ingram blasted his way to take the team beyond 200+ and defend it against Auckland Aces from New Zealand, Lahore Qalandars captain Sohail Akhtar smashed a 56-ball century to guide his team to victory over Yorkshire Vikings from England.
Both matches were on the high-scoring side and the trend is likely to continue on day 2 of the competition, however, spinners are key to bowling strategies for the team’s at the Zayed Stadium track. There was some purchase on offer for the quicks as well and the night game provides much more assistance to them when compared to the afternoon match.
Brief Scores:
Boost Defenders 205/5 in 20 overs (Colin Ingram 84 n.o, Cameron Delport 36, Noor-ul-Haq 29 n.o, Younas Ahmadzai 19, Will Somerville 2/28, Ben Lister 1/39, Matt McEwan 1/45) beat Auckland Aces 170/5 in 20 overs (Robbie O’Donnell 67 n.o, Sean Solia 29, Graeme Beghin 23, Craig Cachopa 23, Kyle Abbott 3/21, Colin Ingram 1/16, Jeevan Mendis 1/25) by 35 runs
Yorkshire Vikings 184/5 in 20 overs (Harry Brook 37, Gary Ballance 35, Adam Lyth 32, Jack Leaning 26 n.o, Shaheen Afridi 2/36, Raza Farzan-Khan 2/39, Zulfiqar Babar 1/26) lost to Lahore Qalandars 189/4 in 19.4 overs (Sohail Akhtar 100, Phil Salt 37 n.o, Bilal Irshad 30, Josh Poysden 2/26, Tim Bresnan 2/41) by 6 wickets
