Wolves devour Hawks in Global T20 Canada

WEST INDIES and TT`s batsman Lendl Simmons won over his countrymen Rayad Emrit and Dwayne Bravo when Brampton Wolves defeated Winnipeg Hawks by seven wickets yesterday in the Global T20 Canada held at the CAA Centre, Brampton, Canada.

The Hawks were bowled out for 116 in 18.5 overs and Wolves replied with 122/3 in 14.3 overs.

Simmons, who is also the Wolves’ wicket-keeper, said, “The team has been performing really well and results like these show the strengths of the team. It was a good victory against a good team and we look forward to the next match.”

Wolves got off to the best possible start as Canadian bowler Cecil Perez had the hard-hitting Australian Chris Lynn caught by New Zealand’s Ish Sodhi for six runs off the third ball of the match. Shaiman Anwar (31) and Sunny Sohal restored the early damage by adding 39 runs – the highest partnership of the innings – before Sohal (16) fell to the tournament`s leading wicket-taker, leg-spinner Sodhi.

The middle order of Hawks crumbled losing six further wickets including JP Duminy (six), Bravo (three), Hamza Tariq (seven) and captain Emrit (five) for only 32 runs. Tailender Kaleem Sana unbeaten 27 runs added some respectability to his team`s total of 116 all out in 18.5 overs. Sodhi (2/16), Zahoor Khan (2/21), veteran Shahid Afridi (2/24) and Rohan Mustafa (2/28) were the leading bowlers for the Wolves.

Chasing 117 for a victory, Simmons got his team off to a flyer when he belted 22 runs from 16 balls including two boundaries and two sixes.

The Hawks fought back as Wolves had a mini collapse, losing Simmons, George Munsey (one) and Nitish Kumar (one); the scoreboard then read 30/3.

However, Colin Munro played a captain`s knock to seal the victory for his team keeping them unbeaten after three matches and topping the table with a maximum of six points.

The left-handed Kiwi batsman scored an unbeaten 53 runs from 31 balls (three fours, four sixes). He was involved in a 92-run partnership with Babar Hayat who chipped in with 37 runs (four fours, two sixes). Pakistan left-arm fast bowler Mohammed Irfan (2/27) was the main destroyer for the Winnipeg team.

Emrit said, “We were probably about 60 runs short. It was a tough wicket to start on. They bowled really well, they executed their plan (but) our batters didn’t get going.”