Shane Devcich was a very late replacement for the Gladiators but he was the chief destroyer taking three power play wickets, effecting a direct hit run out and was not out on 42 from 32 balls. Unsurprisingly he was awarded player of the match.
HK Island United only mustered 28 for the loss of four wickets in their powerplay. James Franklin took the other wicket with HK veteran Moner Dar taking a one-handed screamer at deep square leg.
The story only got worse as Hussain Talat was the victim of Devcich’s runout. He threw down the stumps at the bowler’s end from point after a mix up.
Ahsan Abbasi and Zeeshan Ali went about mounting a rescue mission and put together a fighting 65 run partnership from 8.1 overs before Abbasi was caught in the deep with Moner Dar taking his second catch.
Ali was joined by skipper Tanwir Afzal and went up a gear playing some powerful shots all around the wicket, especially through (and over) mid off. He brought up his half century from 36 balls and was dismissed in the last over going for another maximum.
Tanwir slogged 25 off 14 and HKIU finished on 158/7. A relatively modest total considering the agreed par score at the ground should be somewhere between 175-185.
Kumar Sangakkara loosened up after a slow start yesterday, getting 35 from 18 balls. He was dismissed by the left arm spin of Murtaza after a brisk partnership of 76 in 5.4 overs. This brought Devcich and Delport together who dispatched the leather, cork and twine to all parts of downtown Kowloon City hitting the winning runs on the second ball of the sixteenth over.
They put on 76 in 8.2 overs and by the time the United score was passed the run rate was just a tick under 10, boding well for fans of high scoring matches as the tournament continues into its fourth day on Friday.
Friday (Day Four) Matches
10am Galaxy Gladiators Lantau v Hung Hom JD Jaguars
2pm Kowloon Cantons v City Kaitak
Match 6 – likely teams and fantasy players in bold
| Galaxy Gladiators Lantau | Hung Hom JD Jaguars |
| Muhammad Balal | Nizakat Khan |
| Kumar Sangakkara (c) (SL), | Kinchit Shah |
| Cameron Delport (RSA), | Rikki Wessels |
| Anton Devcich (NZ) | Johan Botha (RSA/Sydney Sixers) |
| Shahid Wasif, | Roelof van der Merwe (Ned) |
| James Franklin (NZ) | Darren Sammy (WI) |
| Moner Dar | Ben Laughlin (Aus) |
| Imran Arif | Ninad Shah |
| Jade Dernbach (ENG) | Nadeem Ahmed |
| Daniel Pascoe | Tanveer Ahmed |
| Haroon Arshad Li Kai-ming (Dragon) | Kyle Christie |
Both teams are coming off emphatic victories so this should be a cracker under sunny skies and warmer temperatures. In his post match press conference Kumar Sangakkara highlighted that it is important not to lose sight of the talent in thelocal players and whilst we saw a glimpse of Nizakat’s power in Game 5 he is still yet to really fire. If he is able to get the Jags off to one of his trademark swashbuckling starts, a score of 200+ will be on the cards.
That is not to talk down the Lantau team who were excellent in their demolition of Hong Kong Island United on Thursday afternoon. Their bowlers stuck to their plans very well and there was the catch of the tournament thus far – and will take some beating – by verteran Moner Dar showing that age shall not weary one who works as hard on his game as Moner still does.
After getting both my predictions wrong on Day three these probably don’t hold much weight anymore (!!) but after seeing the Jaguars performance against the Cantons it’s hard not to pick them for this match too.
After watching Devport and Devcich bat today however, it might be a lot closer than any one might have through coming into this tournament!
Match 7 – likely teams and fantasy players in bold
| Kowloon Cantons | City Kaitak |
| Dwayne Smith (WI) | Anshuman Rath |
| Babar Hayat (c) | Kyle Coetzer (Sco) |
| Samit Patel (Eng) | Jamie Atkinson (W/K) |
| Ashar Zaidi (Eng) | Ravi Bopara |
| Adeel Shafique | Aizaz Khan |
| Ryan Buckley | Umar Mohammad |
| Simandeep Singh | Waqas Barkat |
| Wahab Riaz (Pak) | Sohail Tanvir (Pak) |
| Paul van Meekeren (Ned) | Rayad Emrit (WI) |
| Ehsan Nawaz | Samuel Badree |
| Bobby Chan (Dragon) | Raag Kapur or Sigfried Wei |
The replay of last year’s final will feature a Cantons side looking to bounce back after a disappointing loss to the Jaguars on Day Four. Big Dwayne (“DR”) Smith, after being on the end of a first ball LBW that probably pitched outside leg, will be dead keen to turn his tournament around after lighting up the Blitz last year.
The City Kaitak performance will depend heavily on the top four batters of Rath, Coetzer, Atkinson & Bopara. If Coetzer can continue his great form following on from his century in Game Two and the Kaitak lads can bat around him, whilst not allowing the spin of Patel and Zaidi to slow them down too much they will be hard to beat.
Aizaz Khan has been in great form for the City Sports franchise which is very encouraging for the Hong Kong team leading into the World Cup qualifiers in a few weeks.
With both sides enjoying batters who enjoy pace on the ball it will be the team that plays the spin and change of pace best that will get up in this contest.
Being an ex-Cantons player it is hard for me to tip against my old team (and whose dinner I was lucky enough to be invited to on Tuesday night) and I know at least one of the owners (Aparna Shankar in case I go missing) will not be happy with me at all (!!) but I’m leaning towards a Kaitak victory.
