Pathirana, Akram blow away Gulf Giants with three-fers

A day ahead of the IPL auction, Matheesha Pathirana bagged a three-fer as Sharjah Warriorz scripted their second win of the season. The Sri Lankan ended with figures of 4-1-19-3 as the Warriorz restricted the Gulf Giants to 163 for 9, who were in pursuit of the target of 175. Wasim Akram too picked up a three-wicket haul (3-34) while Tom Abell did the bulk of the scoring for the Warriorz with 68 off 41 in the first innings to bring up a competitive score on the board.

With the Warriorz being put in to bat, Tom Kohler-Cadmore's struggles in the ILT20 continued dismissed cheaply for six by Fred Klaasen, with his first ball in the ILT20. Johnson Charles hit two boundaries off Matthew Forde but holed out to long-on in the last over of the PowerPlay. This was sandwiched by Abell smashing back-to-back sixes and a four off Klaasen for 19 runs in the fifth over.

Abell and James Rew then put on 71 runs together. They targeted the spin of Liam Dawson and Moeen Ali, finding regular boundaries, before Abell brought up his 50 off 32 balls. He also played a beautiful stroke inside-out over extra-cover for a maximum. He then fell to Aayan Khan holing out to deep mid-wicket. Couple of overs later,`Rew was bowled by Chris Wood as Dwaine Pretorius joined Sikandar Raza each other at the crease. The South African took 16 runs off Forde in the 18th over before hitting two boundaries off Wood. Pretorius' cameo of 28 off 13 came to an end off the last ball when he was run-out.

In reply, Rahmanullah Gurbaz got a reprieve in the first over when Ethan D'Souza dropped him off Taskin Ahmed. Wasim Akram got the in-form Pathum Nissanka for a low score of three. Gurbaz got hold off Taskin for a four and a six in his following over but got the key wicket of James Vince for a duck. Gurbaz continued to find the boundaries but the Giants continued to lose wickets with Mayers falling to Akram. It got worse for the Giants as three balls later, Pathirana castled the dangerous Gurbaz with an off-cutter to leave the Giants 38 for 4 in 4.3 overs.

Moeen (45) and Azmatullah Omarzai (41) then put on 79 runs together across the next 10 overs to bring the Giants back into the contest. Just when the partnership began to look threatening, Akram picked up his third with that of Omarzai. One brought two, as Pathirana got Forde to miscue a pull which was pocketed by Rew. Pretorius picked up Asif Khan as the Giants continued to tumble. Pathirana sealed the final nail in the coffin with the wicket of Moeen before the Giants finished on 163 for 9 in their allotted overs.

Brief Scores: Sharjah Warriorz 174 for 6 in 20 overs (Tom Abell 68, James Rew 33; Chris Wood 2-26, Aayan Khan 1-22) beat Gulf Giants 163 for 9 in 20 overs (Moeen Ali 45, Azmatullah Omarzai 41; Matheesha Pathirana 3-19, Wasim Akram 3-34) by 11 runs