By Ravendra Madholall
Winnipeg Hawks and Vancouver Knights registered a victory each on Monday at Maple Leaf ground in King City, Ontario, in the current 2018 inaugural Global T20 Canada tournament.
Hawks defeated Toronto Nationals by a convincing 56-run margin in their first encounter while Vancouver Knights carted off a comfortable 18-run triumph over the winless Montreal Tigers.
West Indies players Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards produced superb performances to star for the Hawks in this seventh-round match.
The versatile all-rounder Bravo scored an enterprising 41 to help his team advance to 164-6 and then bowled impressively as opposition Toronto Nationals crumbled for 108 in the 18th over.
Fast- bowler Edwards who was named player of the match, took two wickets for just eight runs from his four frugal overs. Bravo captured two wickets for 23 runs from three tidy overs.
Leading the way was medium-pacer Tion Webster who collected four wickets for 22 runs from 2.2 overs, but it was Edwards who tormented the senior batsmen initially.
The win now takes Hawks to top of the points table with four points from three matches while second-place West Indies “B” are also on four points but have featured in only two games so far.
Toronto Nationals, who have suffered two defeats from three outings, won the toss and the Hawks were sent in. Experienced opener David Warner was out for one run while makeshift opening batsman Sunil Narine quickly followed after scoring 14. Lendl Simmons (44) once again showed good aggression, spanking three sixes and four fours.
At 80-4 in the 14th over, Bravo came to the wicket and started his cameo innings, hitting two gigantic sixes over mid-wicket. Ben McDermott also batted well, contributing a steady 25 as medium-pacer. Mohammed Naveed, grabbed two wickets for 29 runs and West Indies fast-bowler Keswick Williams picked up two wickets but conceded 33 runs from his maximum four overs.
In reply, the Toronto Nationals team, led by West Indies T20 captain Darren Sammy, never threatened the total. There was a regular fall of wickets, despite a fighting 34 from New Zealander Anthon Devcich while Trinidadian Kieron Pollard continued to struggle with the bat but made 25 off 41 balls.
In the other schedule, Knights took first strike at the invitation of the Tigers and they were able to set up a challenging 166-6 from the allotted 20-overs while Tigers once again failed to roar, slumping to 148 all out off 19.4 overs.
South African Rassie Van Derdussen led the way for Knights with a boundary-studded, unbeaten 83, punctuated with five sixes and six fours.
He was supported by Babar Hayat who made 20 after skipper Chris Gayle was dismissed four runs and the sensational Evin Lewis ,16. Peter Siddle and skipper Lasith Malinga claimed two wickets each.
Tigers, who are languishing at the bottom of the points table with zero after three matches, responded slowly. George Worker hit a top-score of 43 and Moises Henriques, offering a great fight , made 40.. However, ace-pacer Tim Southee and left-arm orthodox spinner Saad Bin Zafar snared three wickets each while West Indian Shandel Cottrell was responsible for two victims.
The six participating teams took a day off on Tuesday. The first-round segment is slated to conclude on Sunday. The second round will start next Tuesday with first-place team coming against the sixth-place side and the second-place winner will tackle the fifth-place team. The third-place winner and fourth-place side are also expected to face off.
The playoffs will commence shortly after while the final is fixed for July 15 at the same venue.
- TEAMS M W L T P NRR
- WH 3 2 1 0 4 1.312
- WI-B 2 2 0 0 4 0.834
- VK 3 2 1 0 4 0.607
- ER 2 1 1 0 2 0.740
- TN 3 1 2 0 2 -1.693
- MT 3 0 3 0 0 -1.247