The race for a spot in the ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League (GSL) final took an intriguing twist on Tuesday night when the Lahore Qalandars sealed a roaring victory to ensure they would put themselves in contention for a top-two spot on the tournament’s points table.
Taking on the tournament’s then-unbeaten team, Cricket Victoria out of Australia, the Pakistan-based franchise’s bowlers were marksmen’s straight, taking 8 of the 10 wickets on offer via the bowled route when Victoria were tasked with chasing 139.
The Lahore Qalandars, again, suffered another batting collapse in the death overs, hindering their ability to convert their start into a bigger score.
Six wickets in the last three overs meant there was less freeing of the arms and more defensive shots being played as the Qalandars only managed to post 139 in 19.5 overs after being sent in to bat first by Cricket Victoria.
Mitzi Baig carried his bat for most of the Qalandars’ innings after taking first strike and got to 39 from 36 before falling prey to Callum Stow’s bowling. Mohammad Faisal hit an almost run-a-ball 25 while Mohammad Akhlaq contributed 26 from 19 to the cause, but their woes began with Captain Carlos Brathwaite’s wicket, which precipitated a series of single-digit scores until the batters were all gone.
Eventually, the Qalandars managed 139 in 19.5 overs, a score that would become more than enough in the end.
Dominic Drakes showed his worth with the ball, claiming 3-18 from his full complement of 4 overs while Jackson Smith also claimed 3 scalps for 30 runs in 3.5 overs.
Following up on their good bowling, Cricket Victoria had a stellar start to the chase with the pair of Blake Macdonald and Joe Clarke getting their team off to a lightning-fast start.
The duo contributed 6 fours and 2 sixes to their 67-run first-wicket partnership, before Asif Afridi rattled Macdonald’s stumps in the eighth over. Not long after, Clarke cheaply gave away his wicket to a run-out, attempting a single. As such, two new Victoria batters made their way to the crease within a short period.
The strategic timeout came and went and it appeared as though the Lahore Qalandars settled on the right plan as Tabraiz Shamsi turned the tides of the contest in the 11th over. Shamsi struck in back- to-back balls, positioning himself for a hat-trick and diminishing Victoria’s batting by removing Jonathan Wells and Scott Edwards.
Though Shamsi was unsuccessful in taking the hat-trick, Victoria struggled to find their rhythm again and their position only worsened when Afridi returned for the last over of his spell.
Again, their wickets fell in pairs, leaving them 6 down for 93 runs and over 40 runs away from their target with 7 overs remaining.
Though the overs were enough and their target was in sight, Victoria were still unable to find their bearings and with batsmen being bowled left and right, their hopes of pulling off a third consecutive win were beginning to slip away.
Victoria were bowled out in 19.3 overs, 10 runs short of their target, and Lahore brought up their second win that kept them in final contention.
Three teams, namely Guyana Amazon Warriors, Lahore Qalandars and Victoria all have two wins from two games, with GAW now leading the table owing to the dent in Victoria’s run rate as a result of the loss.
The ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League continues tonight with a clash between the Guyana Amazon Warriors and Rangpur Riders from 19:00h.
