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Desert Vipers beat Sharjah Warriors by seven wickets with Hales’ aggressive batting

England batsman Alex Hales struck a blistering unbeaten 83 off 52 balls and shared a 128-run partnership in 14 overs for the third wicket with compatriot Sam Billings (49 off 38 balls) as the Desert Vipers won their inaugural International League T20. In the match here on Sunday night, they defeated Sharjah Warriors by seven wickets with 20 balls to spare. Sharjah Warriors scored 145 runs for five wickets while batting first at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium here. Desert Vipers achieved the target in just 16.4 overs for the loss of three wickets.

This is the second defeat of Sharjah Warriors in two matches. Man of the match Hales hit nine fours and three sixes in his unbeaten knock, while wicket-keeper batsman Sam Billings hit a six and four fours. Sharjah’s team failed to get off to a good start after being invited to bat first. In the first over, Sheldon Cottrell (1/32) edged Sharjah opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (22) over the wicketkeeper for a six. However, this bowler showed the way to the pavilion in the third over without opening the account to Evin Lewis.

In the same over, Gurbaj hit his second six but in the fourth over, Gus Atkinson (one for 29) was caught in the hands of the wicketkeeper. Tom-Kohler Cadmore once again failed to impress with the bat and fell to Rohan Mustafa for six. After falling for three wickets in the power play itself, captain Moeen Ali came to support compatriot David Malan and both hit a four each against Atkinson in the eighth over to take the team’s score past 50 runs.

The team then lost the wickets of both the experienced players at a span of six balls. Moin was dismissed by Tymal Mills (one wicket for 11 runs) while Malan was dismissed by Ben Howell (one wicket for 23 runs in four overs). Both scored 18-18 runs. At this time the team’s score was 66 runs for five wickets in 11 overs. After this, Joe Denly and Mohammad Nabi made an unbroken partnership of 77 runs. Both added 54 runs in the last five overs but failed to take the team to a big score.

While Nabi hit one four and two sixes in his 23-ball unbeaten innings, Denly hit three fours in his 33-ball innings. The Desert Vipers opened the innings with UAE’s Rohan Mustafa (eight) and Hales. Mustafa hit two fours in the first over against Moeen (one wicket for eight runs) but was caught by Woakes in the last ball. After taking a brilliant catch, Woakes (one wicket for 48 runs) dismissed Desert Vipers captain Colin Munro without opening the account. Hales started playing his aggressive shots from the sixth over.

He hit Woakes for a four and two sixes to collect 16 runs in the final over of the powerplay. During this, Sam Billings gave him good support while batting carefully, due to which the team’s score was 81 runs for two wickets in the initial 10 overs. Hales completed his half-century in 39 balls. Billings also hit some hard shots after this. The pair put on a 100-run partnership in 12.1 overs to put the Desert Vipers in control of the match.

In another match of the day, Gulf Giants beat Abu Dhabi Knight Riders by six wickets with Indian-origin UAE player Sanchit Sharma bowling brilliantly in Abu Dhabi. Bowling all-rounder Sanchit, who hails from Sonepat in Haryana, took three wickets for nine runs as Abu Dhabi Knight Riders could only manage 114 runs for nine wickets. Gulf Giants achieved the target by losing four wickets in just 14.1 overs. Captain James Vince scored 65 runs in 44 balls for the team.

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