In the day/night fixture, Captain Pooran scored a 23-ball 40 as Gladiators scored 128-4 from their 10 overs. Pooran’s incredible form with the bat continued in the final, hitting five fours and a six as he and David Weise put on 74 runs in 30 balls after the side reached 54-3 after five overs.
Akeal Hosein had the champions in early trouble after dismissing Suresh Raina and Tom Kohler-Cadmore for seven and 11, respectively, and Wahab Riaz dismissed Andre Russell for nine in the first five overs.
Weise was even more brutal on the New York Strikers smashing two fours and four sixes in his 43 runs that came from just 18 balls. Pollard dismissed Pooran off the last ball of the innings to finish with figures of 1-16 in the only over he bowled.
However, Hosein was the best of the bowlers with 2-16 from his two overs.
Chasing 129 for victory, New York Strikers slumped to 29-4 midway the fourth over and were never able to recover. They suffered another blow when Pollard was forced to retire hurt after scoring 23 from 15 balls.
Jordan Thompson remained unbeaten on 22 while Azam Kkan contributed 16 and was the only other batter in double figures as Strikers could only muster 91-5 from their allotment of overs.
Josh Little, who claimed the wickets of Mohammad Waseem for a duck and Rashid Khan for eight, had the remarkable figures of 2-4 from his two overs. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hasnain took 2-12.
Weise was named Player of the Match for his exciting cameo and taking two catches.
Pooran, who has had scores of 77*, 80, 34, 50 and 38 prior to Sunday's final, amassed 345 runs during the tournament and was named Player of the Series.
Just an hour after Pooran's remarkable innings of 70 from 25 balls in the Gladiators' previous 10-wicket triumph over the Bangla Tigers, the explosive batsman showcased his prowess once again. Pooran contributed a rapid 26 from nine balls before being dismissed, setting the foundation for Tom Kohler-Cadmore's unbeaten 36 and Imad Wasim's explosive 35 from 17 balls, propelling the Gladiators to a total of 117-5.
The Samp Army bowlers, led by Qais Ahmad and Salman Irshad, put up a commendable effort, with Ahmad dismissing Pooran and the dangerous Andre Fletcher in successive deliveries. Ahmad’s efforts resulted in figures of 2-11 while Irshad took and 2-24.
Jason Holder supported with 1-16.
However, the Gladiators' bowling unit proved even more formidable.
Pooran's strategic decision to deploy spinners upfront paid off immediately, as Imad Wasim and Fabien Allen secured the first two wickets for just 11 runs in the second over. Waqar Salamkheil then wreaked havoc in the Samp Army middle order, claiming remarkable figures of 3-6. Despite a quick-fire 31 from 14 balls by Karim Janat, who was eventually dismissed by Andre Russell, Samp Army found themselves at 64-5.
Needing 53 runs from the final 16 balls, Samp Army faced an insurmountable challenge, finishing on 89-6. The Gladiators' clinical performance paved the way for their advancement to the final, where they will once again lock horns with the New York Strikers in a battle for T10 supremacy on Saturday.
The 41-year-old Gayle achieved a strike rate of 381.82, smashing six fours and nine sixes in a brutal onslaught on the Arabians bowling that powered TAD, chasing 98 for victory, to 100 for 1 off just 5.3 overs.
The Universe Boss signalled his intent from as early as the first over bowled by Yamin Ahmadzai that went for 18 runs. It was his only over of the match.
In fact, none of the Arabians bowlers got more than one over in as Gayle unleashed his special brand of carnage.
Twenty-seven runs came off Sampal Kami’s over. Paul Stirling hit consecutive fours from his first two balls before a single off the third turned him over to Gayle, who then hit him for three consecutive sixes.
Mossaddek Hossain bowled the third over and after conceding two runs from his first delivery, then had Stirling caught at cow corner for 11 when the score was 47. Unfortunately, for him, the batsman crossed while the ball was in the air putting Mossaddek squarely in the crosshairs of the Universe Boss, whose 50 came up from just 12 balls.
His next four balls went for 20 runs – 4, 6, 4, 6 – as the early promise was cut to shreds by Gayle’s blade.
In the over that followed, Maroof Merchant’s conceded three runs from the first four balls before it was spoiled by consecutive sixes from Gayle.
Ishan Malhotra bowled the fifth over and only conceded 10 runs with one four coming from Gayle’s bat.
Mercifully, the nightmare ended for Maratha Arabians mid-way the sixth over when Gayle slogged Mutkar Ali over midwicket for his ninth six.
Joe Clarke was unbeaten on 5 at the end.
Earlier, Obed McKoy 2 for 20 helped restrict Maratha Arabians to 97 for 4. Alishan Sharafu was their leading scorer with 33 from 23 balls. Mohammed Hafeez (20) and Shoaib Malik 15* helped push the score along but were stymied by the bowling of Tom Helm, whose two overs only cost eight runs.
Jamie Overton and Naveen-ul-Haq each took 1 for 21 from their respective quotas.
Samuels, who back in 2008, was banned for two years after being found guilty following a probe into allegations of links with an illegal bookmaker, has been charged with failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official, the receipt of any gift, payment, hospitality or other benefits that were made or given in circumstances that could bring the Participant or the sport of cricket into disrepute.
He was also slapped with the charge of failing to disclose to the Designated Anti-Corruption Official receipt of hospitality with a value of US $750 or more as well as failing to cooperate with the Designated Anti-Corruption Official’s investigation and obstructing or delaying the Designated Anti-Corruption Official’s investigation by concealing information that may have been relevant to the investigation.
According to the ICC, the outspoken Jamaican will be given a time period of 14 days to respond to the charges.
Meanwhile, Cricket West Indies said it has been made aware of the development.
In a statement this morning CWI said: “Cricket West Indies (CWI) has been made aware of the charges which have been laid by the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit, involving former West Indies player Marlon Samuels.
“Formal charges have been laid with breaching four counts of the Emirates Cricket Board’s Anti-Corruption Code for participants of the T10 League in Abu Dhabi in 2019.
“While CWI has yet to receive detailed information relating to this ICC investigation, CWI remains firm in denouncing any such activities within the sport, and fully supports the ICC Anti-Corruption Unit in their efforts to rid the sport of all corruption.”
Samuel was convicted after getting caught sharing team information in exchange for money with a bookie before the first ODI against India in Nagpur on January 21, 2007.
The allegations led to the ICC asking the WICB to conduct an investigation which led to his conviction and the two-year ban.
Samuels officially retired from international cricket in November 2020.
Chasing Team Abu Dhabi’s score of 103-7 from their 10 overs, Northern Warriors’ opening pair of Lewis and Hazratullah Zazai raced to 106-0 with six balls remaining to pull off their second victory in consecutive matches.
Lewis began as the more aggressive member of the opening pair but tapered off as Zazai, Power Hitter of the Match, took over. He hit three of his five fours and two of his three sixes while personally plundering 28 runs in the final three overs.
His power hitting propelled Northern Warriors from 69-0 at the end of the sixth over to victory, his personal tally being 52 not out from 27 balls.
Lewis also faced 27 balls for his 46 that included five fours and three two sixes.
Team Abu Dhabi’s total was built on an opening stand of 39 from 22 balls between Tom Banton and Alex Hales. However, once Banton was dismissed by Tabraiz Shamsi for a 17-ball 33, wickets fell regularly as the Northern Warriors bowling cut into the line-up.
Hales made 30 before he too was dismissed by Shamsi. Colin Ingram made 10 and Asif Khan run out for 19 to be the only other batter in double figures.
Shamsi was the best of the bowlers with 2-17.
The win means the Northern Warriors sit atop the eight-team table with four points from their two matches. Team Abu Dhabi are with a win from their two games and sit seventh on the table.
The competition that will feature St Lucia’s local players and professional cricketers will be played in the Darren Sammy Cricket Grounds in Gros Islet and with the population starved for live sports, Henry said the prospects of success are quite positive.
“Much interest has been piqued based on enquiries and the response from our affiliates and local media,” he told Sportsmax.TV. “There is eager anticipation as this heralds and is seen as the new norm, reopening of cricket in tandem with Saint Lucia Government's phased re-opening plans.”
Henry said a schedule for the tournament will be set as soon as the draft is finalised and that will be based on the level of sponsorship the association can generate for the tournament.
St Lucia has had 18 cases of Covid19. All 18 have made full recoveries in what has been the best of the success stories in the Caribbean to date. Notwithstanding, Henry said the association plans to ensure that that remains the case when the tournament gets underway.
“All existing protocols will be adopted and additional cricket specific adoptions are being introduced,” he said. “We are planning the incorporating of ICC guidelines. These protocols are being set out in conjunction with both our Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Health.”
The tournament will be the first organised sports competition in St Lucia since March 2020.
Facing the formidable target of 112-6 set by the Tigers, courtesy of Gulbadin Naib's gritty 52, the Gladiators wasted no time in their pursuit. Pooran's explosive innings, a blitzkrieg of 70 runs from a mere 25 balls, propelled the Gladiators to an astonishing 114-0 in just 6.4 overs.
The Trinidadian dynamo, reaching his half-century in a mere 16 balls, fittingly sealed the victory by dispatching Dominic Drakes' delivery over short third man for his eighth four. Pooran's innings included an impressive five sixes, showcasing his dominance in the Gladiators' unbroken opening stand with Tom Kohler-Cadmore. Kohler-Cadmore contributed a notable 43 from 16 balls, embellished with four fours and three sixes.
Earlier in the match, Andre Russell emerged as a key figure for the Gladiators, taking two crucial wickets to stifle the Tigers' innings and limit them to a challenging total. Russell dismissed Tom Abell early on for a mere five runs, as the Tigers found themselves struggling at 20-3 in the third over. Despite a brief recovery led by Pathum Nissanka's 25, Russell struck again, removing Nissanka from the equation.
Gulbadin Naib, however, staged a commendable comeback for the Tigers with an unbeaten half-century (52 from 26 balls), guiding his team past the 100-run mark. Benny Howell chipped in with 11 from six balls to set a competitive target.
Russell concluded with impressive figures of 2-21, setting the stage for the Gladiators' dominant performance. The Gladiators' opening pair, once again, proved unstoppable, dismantling the Tigers' bowling attack and securing a convincing victory with a remarkable 20 balls to spare.
Deccan Gladiators, the defending champions, are set to face Samp Army in Eliminator 2 later on Friday.
Pooran, who came into the match with scores of 77 and 80, scored 34 from just 17 balls as Gladiators posted 140-2 from their 10 overs.
After losing Jason Roy for four in the first over, Pooran hit three fours and two sixes as he and opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore added 122 for the second wicket. Pooran was eventually dismissed in the ninth over by Waquas Maqsood, who took 1-21.
Meanwhile, Kohler-Cadmore blasted his way to an unbeaten 82 with eight fours and six sixes.
He and Andre Russell put on 12 in the final eight balls with the Jamaican scoring 10 that included a six over extra cover off Shimraz Ahmed, who conceded 11 in the over.
Imad Wasim had figures of 1-17.
Delhi Bulls made a good fist of it to score 122-4 from their 10 overs.
They owed their solid effort to a 24-ball 48 from Tim David and Rilee Rossouw, who scored 28 from 15. However, needing to score 14 an over proved too much for Delhi Bulls despite a gallant 14 not out from eight balls from Keemo Paul at the end.
David and Rossouw put on 79 for the third wicket after Tom Banton (12) and Rahkeem Cornwall (2) were back in the hutch in the third over with 26 runs on the board.
Russell got rid of the dangerous David in the ninth over effectively swinging the pendulum in Gladiators’ favour for the remaining 10 balls from which the Delhi Bulls could only muster 17 runs.
Russell’s two overs cost 26 runs but Josh Little proved much more effective with the wickets of Cornwall and Rossouw to return figures of 2-11.
Propelled by some lusty hitting by Nicholas Pooran and Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who shared in an unbroken opening partnership of 85 in just 6.1 overs that took Deccan Gladiators past the 83-8 posted by the Chennai Braves.
Pooran began slowly but eventually got going smashing three sixes and three fours in his unbeaten knock of 35 off 19 balls. Kohler-Cadmore was even more ruthless clubbing five fours and three sixes in his score of 44 also from 19 balls to propel the Deccan Gladiators to their third win in five games and first after back-to-back losses.
Despite the powerful hitting from their batters, it was the bowling of Andre Russell, that earned him the Player of the Match award. Russell took 2-12 from his two overs dismissing openers Jason Roy for 15 and Kobe Herft for four.
Both batters were caught by Nuwan Thusara, who was also among the wickets with 2-26.
Stephen Eskinazi, who was the best of the was run out by Andre Fletcher for with 25 from 14 balls with three fours.
Batting first, the 2018 champions made 126-4 from their 10 overs spurred by Powell’s 63 from 27 balls. The Jamaican all-allrounder smashed four fours and six sixes that propelled Warriors from 42-3 at the end of four overs.
Powell and Samit Patel added 80 in the last six overs before he got out off the penultimate ball of the innings. Patel remained unbeaten on 21 from 13 balls.
Needing 125 for victory, the Tigers scored 10 runs from the opening over but then lost Andre Fletcher for one at the start of the second over.
Willy Jacks replaced Fletcher and set about the bowling. He and Hazratullah Zazai added 23 for the second wicket before the latter was dismissed for 17.
However, before Jacks got going, he was losing wickets at the other end as Faf du Plessis (1), Karim Janar (16) and Johnson Charles (1) all went cheaply to see the Tigers slip to 58-5.
With 23 balls left Tigers needed 67 for victory and Jacks and Benny Howell delivered. Jacks hit eight fours and three sixes while Howell smashed four fours and a six in the 11 balls he faced to power their team to victory with five balls to spare.
Samit Patel gave up 19 runs in seven balls to finish with 1-19 while Rayad Emrit took 1-31 from his two overs. Chris Jordan was the most expensive of the bowlers, his one over going for 21 runs.
“To be honest, T10 cricket can be a threat because you can watch three games in a day, it’s less stress on the body and bowlers just come and bowl two overs,” he told reporters in Australia on Wednesday ahead of the first of four games he will play for the Melbourne Renegades in the ongoing Big Bash League.
“T20 is always going to be ultimate but I just think the amount of cricket at the moment means the players’ availability is going to be a big issue,” he added.
The 2022 edition of the Abu Dhabi T10 league concluded last week, and the competition saw a host of marquee names including Russell, Nicholas Pooran, Eoin Morgan and Adil Rashid taking part.
The number of T10 leagues is steadily increasing, and earlier this year, Cricket West Indies (CWI) became the first full-member board to start its own league, called the 6ixty. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have already announced that next year, they will be starting their own T10 league known as the ‘Lanka T10 League.’
“Most players, it’s going to make them want to leave the longer format with the direction T10 leagues are going. There are a lot of different T10 leagues in different parts of the world and they announced that just before the finals in Abu Dhabi.”
Russell himself has not played a single red-ball game since 2014 but the veteran is hoping that all players don’t fall into the short-format trap.
“I just hope that players still believe in red-ball cricket, still believe in Test cricket and still want to play those formats because the older generation, they will come out and watch five days of cricket. That’s where it all started.”
It was Rovman Powell, though, who gave his team a chance while Simmons took them home.
Needing 61 from the last five overs, Northern Warriors, chasing 115 for victory, saw Powell smash 49 from 24 balls. His knock included five fours and two sixes. Together with Simmons, they took the score from 23 for 2 mid-way the third over to 99 for 2 from 8.5 overs.
However, when Powell was bowled off the inside edge from the last ball of Obed McCoy’s allotment, Simmons still had it all to do with the Warriors needing 16 from the last six balls.
The Trinidadian veteran duly obliged hitting two sixes from the second and fourth balls of Tom Helm's final to propel his team to victory.
Earlier Fabian Allen took 4 for 13 as Team Abu Dhabi fell away from 55 without loss after 2.5 overs to 114 for 7. Paul Stirling got TAD off to flyer smashing six sixes and three fours in his 13-ball knock. However, once he got out caught at mid-off from the bowling of Rayad Emrit, TAD struggled.
Gayle was out next ball for 7 caught at long-on by Allen from a Junaid Siddique delivery.
Allen then struck with the ball taking two wickets in each of his two overs as TAD slumped to 107 for 6 at the end of the ninth over.
Northern Warriors, a team that boasts five Caribbean players – Simmons, Powell, Allen, Pooran, and Emrit – will now face Delhi Bulls captained by Dwayne Bravo.
Samp Army, led by captain Moeen Ali, clinched their fifth consecutive win with a stellar performance in the chase of 116 runs set by the Gladiators. The Army faced an early setback, losing three wickets for just 21 runs in the fourth over. Nevertheless, the middle order displayed resilience, securing the win with six wickets in hand and four deliveries to spare.
Moeen Ali played a captain's knock, smashing an unbeaten 39 runs off just 15 balls. He formed crucial partnerships, first contributing 49 runs with Ibrahim Zadran in 19 deliveries for the fourth wicket and then adding 46 runs with Karim Janat in 17 balls.
Zadran and Janat also contributed significantly to the chase, scoring at a rapid pace.
Zadran hit 26 runs with a strike rate of 173, while Janat clubbed 27 runs at an impressive strike rate of 300. The win was set up by Samp Army's pace bowler Salman Irshad and legspinner Qais Ahmad. Irshad's quick strikes, removing Andre Russell and Imad Wasim in three deliveries, triggered a middle-order collapse for the Gladiators.
Despite the Gladiators losing wickets in quick succession, Andre Fletcher stood firm, smashing an unbeaten 52 runs in a 27-ball innings that included five sixes. Fabian Allen's quick cameo of 14 runs off six balls further boosted the Gladiators' total to 115, with some assistance from 15 extras.
In the end, Moeen Ali and his batting colleagues ensured a comfortable victory for Samp Army, highlighting their dominance in the tournament with a fifth consecutive win.
The teams will be comprised of local cricketers and professionals and there is optimism that players like Johnson Charles and former West Indies captain Darren Sammy will be displaying their skills during the two-week long tournament.
According to Carol Henry, President of the SLNCA, 30 matches are set to be played during the competition that will be staged at the Darren Sammy Cricket Ground.
“We are in full planning mode,” Henry tells SportsMax.TV, adding that there will be two matches each day. The first match will begin at 12:30 pm with the second match set for a 2:30 pm start.
Of course, the matches will be played under a “closed venue” protocol in the interest of continuing to protect players and the citizens of St Lucia.
