9:34 PM IST, 8:04 PM Local Time: Ben Cutting with a powerful punch at the back end of the innings has made lightwork of a mammoth chase, taking the Stallions onto 8 points with a six wicket win and 3 balls to spare.
We have come to the end of a mouth watering encounter between the UAE Bulls and Aspin Stallions. In the first innings, Salt and Moores came out to bat, after Kieron Pollard won the toss and opted to bat first.
Phil Salt played a blinder of a knock at the top, carrying the team in the first half of the innings. He added 44 runs off just 17 balls, with 4 fours and 3 sixes in it. Tom Moores on the other end, found it a rough evening, after failing to keep the scoring rate up. He added 24 off 19 balls, and was called back to the dug out by the management.
Tim David bolstered the batting in the next few overs, as he bashed the bowlers around, adding 35 runs off just 15 balls, with 2 fours and 3 sixes in it. The first innings ended with a glorious final over from Karim Janat, who restricted a powerful UAE Bulls batting order to a score of 119/5. He gave away only 15 runs in his 2 overs and picked up the wicket of the dangerous, Phil Salt.
Heading out to chase 120, the Stallions were off to a perfect start, with both their openers cruising towards the target. Andre Fletcher added 30 runs off 15 balls and was run out, putting a twist in the tale. He scored 4 fours and 2 sixes in his blitz innings. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, on the other end, added 29 runs off just 10 balls, with 3 fours and 2 sixes.
After a couple of good overs from Sunil Narine, giving away only 13 from his 2 overs and a wicket. Ben Cutting stole the show after scoring 25 runs off the Romario Shepherd over. He ended up scoring 39 off 18 balls, with 3 fours and 4 sixes in it making light work of the mammoth run chase.
UAE Bulls with this loss has made a mess of the start they had. They have now lost 4 games in their 6 games. Back to back wins for Aspin Stallions on the other hand and they look good for qualification with a healthy NRR.