Hard-hitting Guyanese left-hander, Sherfane Rutherford, played a starring role to lead the Montreal Tigers to a one-wicket win over Vancouver Knights in Qualifier 2 of the Global T20 Canada at the CAA Canter in Brampton on Saturday.
After winning the toss and electing to field first, the Tigers restricted the Knights to 137-6 off their 20 overs.
Pakistani opener Mohammad Rizwan led the way for the Knights with 39 off 33 balls while South African Corbin Bosch hit a 28-ball 36 including one four and three sixes.
Abbas Afridi was the main destroyer for the Tigers with 5-29 from his four overs.
Montreal’s chase did not get off to a good start at all as they lost their first four wickets for just 29 runs within the first five overs. A 43-run fifth wicket stand between Rutherford and Dipendra Singh Airee provided some stability before the latter fell in the 13th over.
Another hard-hitting West Indian, Andre Russell, joined Rutherford at the crease and the pair added just 18 before Russell fell in the 15th over for an 11-ball 17 including one four and two sixes.
Carlos Brathwaite then joined Rutherford at the crease but didn’t last long, facing only two balls and making one to leave the Tigers 97-7 in the middle of the 16th over.
17-year-old Aayan Afzal Khan then joined Rutherford and the two formed what eventually became a match-winning 26-run eighth wicket partnership before Khan was the first of consecutive wickets in the 19th over bowled by Junaid Siddique leaving the Tigers needing 15 off the last over with Rutherford on strike facing Rayyan Pathan’s medium pace.
The pressure did not phase Rutherford at all as he deposited the first three balls of the over into the crowd to book the Tigers spot in the final set for Sunday against the Surrey Jaguars at the same venue.
Rutherford finished 48* off 34 balls including two fours and three sixes.
Siddique took 4-22 from his four overs for the Knights. Fabian Allen gave the Knights a good start with 2-15 from his two overs.