Tom Banton and Andre Fletcher produced a pair of excellent performances with the bat as the MI Emirates produced a demolition over the Desert Vipers in International League T20 (ILT20) action on Monday. Banton hit his second hundred of the tournament while Fletcher fell four runs shy of an unbeaten hundred as the Emirates beat the Vipers by a mammoth 154 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
After losing the wicket of Muhammad Waseem in the third over, Banton made his way to the crease to join Fletcher and the pair added a record 198 for the second wicket.
Banton made a 55-ball 105, his second century this season, hitting nine fours and seven sixes in the process while Fletcher finished 96* off 50 balls including 10 fours and three sixes.
Facing a daunting chase, the Vipers were then blown away for just 74 halfway through the 13th over.
Azam Khan and captain Sam Curran were the only two batsmen to reach double figures with 12 and 11, respectively, as the MI Emirates bowlers had a field day bowling to a massive target.
Alzarri Joseph was the best bowler on the day with 3-17 from his three overs while Muhammad Rohid also claimed three wickets while conceding 24 runs in four overs.
Dan Mousley and Fazalhaq Farooqi were also excellent with the ball with 2-8 off one over and 2-10 off 2.3 overs, respectively.
The Vipers remain top of the table despite the heavy loss with 12 points from eight games while the Emirates closed that gap to four points in second.
Summarized scores:
MI Emirates 228-2 from 20 overs (Tom Banton 105, Andre Fletcher 96*)
Desert Vipers 74 from 12.3 overs (Alzarri Joseph 3-17, Muhammad Rohid 3-24, Dan Mousley 2-9, Fazalhaq Farooqi 2-10).