Batting first, the Atlanta Riders lost their captain Robin Uthappa off the first ball for a duck, after which Lendl Simmons (5) and Dwayne Smith (7) followed suit. At 3/19 in the fourth over, the Riders were in a spot of bother.
Hamilton Masakadza and Hammad Azam were in the middle after that, and steadied the ship for the Riders. The duo put on a 72-run stand for the Riders, with the Zimbabwean narrowly missing out on a half-century.
Azam, who smashed a flurry of sixers during his knock, finished with an unbeaten 38 to his name, as the Riders posted 101/5 in their quota of 10 overs.
In response, the New Jersey Triton’s lost both the openers in the first over, as Gautam Gambhir (0) and Naman Ojha (1) were knocked over by Kamrul Islam. In the second over, Harmeet Singh dismissed Jesse Ryder, and then packed off Cameron Delport for 1, as the first two overs produced 4 wickets for the Riders.
Yusuf Pathan and Chris Barnwell tried to steady the ship after that, but the latter was the fifth wicket to fall in the fifth over, with the score at 33/5. By the end of the fifth over, the Triton’s lost Yusuf for 18, and were 6 down, putting the Riders in the driving seat.
After that, the Triton’s continued to find it difficult as the likes of Peter Trego (9), Liam Plunkett (3), Bipul Sharma (4) and RP Singh (0), all fell quite quickly, allowing the Atlanta Riders to register a big win.
Brief Scores:
Atlanta Riders – 101/5 (Hamilton Masakadza – 43, Hammad Azam – 38*; Peter Trego – 2/29, Bipul Sharma – 1/8) won by 48 runs against New Jersey Triton’s – 53 (Yusuf Pathan – 18, Chris Barnwell – 11; Elias Sunny – 2/4, Harmeet Singh – 2/9)
Former West Indies all-rounder Ashley Nurse hit a rapid 10-ball 24 to help the California Knights post 76-1 off their five overs batting first.
Irfan Pathan hit a top score of 31 off just 13 balls against 1-10 from Liam Plunkett.
Ben Laughlin then took 2-7 in his over to help restrict the Triton’s to 52-3 off their five overs.
Another former West Indies all-rounder, Chris Barnwell, hit 29 off 15 balls.
Naman Ojha struck a four and a six off Ashley Nurse's bowling in the fourth over and took the New Jersey side's score to 42/0, but he fell to Sulieman Benn for 25 runs off 11 balls in the next over. The Triton's lost a couple of wickets in quick succession thereafter, but Yusuf Pathan put his team in the driver's seat after smashing Krishmar Santokie for four sixes and a boundary.
Pathan fell to Peter Siddle for 35 runs off 11 balls in the ninth over, but Peter Trego's maximum off Benn's bowling ensured that the Triton's walked off the field as winners of the match.
Earlier in the day, the New Jersey Triton's won the toss and put the California Knights into bat. The Knights' opening batter Jacques Kallis fell early in the innings to Chris Barnwell, but Aaron Finch and Milind Kumar kept the momentum on their team's side through fantastic ball striking. Finch smashed a four and a six off Bipul Sharma's bowling in the sixth over to take Knights' score to 46/1 in six overs.
Thereafter, he struck five straight sixes off Liam Plunkett's bowling in the next over as the Knights reached 62/1. The Australian upped the ante even more when he sent the ball over the rope five times off Barnwell's bowling in the ninth over. However, Peter Trego conceded just three runs in the last over and restricted the California Knights to 116/3 in their 10 overs.
Brief Scores: New Jersey Triton's 117/4 (Yusuf Pathan 35, Naman Ojha 25, Peter Siddle 1/14) beat California Knights 116/3 (Aaron Finch 75*, Milind Kumar 27, Peter Trego 1/11) by 6 wickets.
