An aggressive half-century from Shimron Hetmyer helped propel Gulf Giants to a five-wicket victory over Desert Vipers in the ILT20 league in Dubai on Sunday.

Hetmyer scored 70 from just 35 balls as Gulf Giants scored 196-5 to win with three balls to spare. Despite the impressive knock from the Guyanese batsman, he did not do it alone as Chris Lynn was equally impressive scoring 71 from 42 balls in the winning effort.

Lynn and Hetmyer’s partnership of 117 from 56 balls helped get Gulf Giants’ chase back on track after they had lost Tom Banton, James Vince and Rehan Amhed for three, four and one, respectively, with only 30 runs on the board.

Hetmyer was eventually dismissed in the 14^th over having hit five sixes and five fours. Lynn fell in the 17^th leaving the dependable David Weise and Liam Dawson to take the Giants to victory.

Weise was unbeaten on 22 from 19 balls while Dawson was not out on 16 from just nine balls in the end.

Sheldon Cottrell was the best of the Vipers’ bowlers with 2-24 from his four overs.

Earlier, Vipers owed their challenging total to Alex Hales 99 from just 57 balls. He hit 10 fours and five sixes in his knock and got support from Colin Munro, who scored 39 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed 27 from 15 balls as Desert Vipers scored 195-4 from their allotment.

It proved to be a tough target but one that Hetmyer and Lynn were able to achieve.