Desert Vipers beat Sharjah Warriorz to reach final

The Desert Vipers defeated the Sharjah Warriorz in the DP World ILT20 Season 3 Qualifier 2 clash bowling exceptionally well and followed it up with a scintillating batting display to cruise to a seven-wicket win at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

The Desert Vipers chased down 163 with 20 balls remaining as Max Holden (48) and Alex Hales (47) set the tempo before the skipper Sam Curran smashed a 15-ball 34 to power his side past the finish line.

The Desert Vipers will now face the Dubai Capitals for the DP World ILT20 Season 3 title on Sunday. Having finished as runners-up in the inaugural season, the Desert Vipers will hope to go the distance this time around.

Defending a tight total, the Sharjah Warriorz got off to the perfect start as Adam Milne rattled Rahmanullah Gurbaz’s stumps with a peach of a delivery. The lovely inswinger seamed in perfectly and snuck between bat and pad to reduce the Desert Vipers to 3/1 in the first over. Hales picked up the baton at the other end as he found a couple of early boundaries to set the pace for the chase.

Those initial boundaries gave Hales a boost of confidence as he went on to fire on all cylinders. He clobbered Dilshan Madushanka for four striking fours in the fourth over and then Holden upped the ante with a couple of lovely boundaries against Moeen Ali as the Desert Vipers raced away to 54/1 at the end of the powerplay. Hales and Holden were in rousing form to seize control of the match.

Hales dispatched Karim Janat for three successive boundaries, the pick among those was a flat hit straight over the bowler’s head. The Desert Vipers were bossing the chase at this point, while the Sharjah Warriorz bowling attack searched for answers. They found the answer in Madushanka as he came back into the attack and struck right away to dismiss Hales for a brilliant 47 off 29 balls.

The Desert Vipers still had the upper hand in the chase, placed at 92/2 after 10 overs, and Holden ensured they got closer to the target with a string of big hits. However, just as Holden and Dan Lawrence seemed to be forming a match-winning partnership, Milne beat Holden for pace and got his man for 48.

Some clever changes of personnel and disciplined bowling allowed the Sharjah Warriorz to sneak back into the contest. They had gotten the better of the Desert Vipers’ two in-form batters, but the job was far from done as the opposition needed just 46 runs from the final seven overs.

Curran accelerated the chase with two neat hits to the boundary, sandwiched between a maximum from Lawrence, as the Desert Vipers eased their way to the target. Curran was hitting the ball really well as he amassed 11 runs in the 16th over, which included a beautiful flick off the pads for a massive six over midwicket.

Curran played a captain’s innings as he pummelled a humongous six and a flat six to go past the 4,000 run mark in T20s and propel the Desert Vipers into the final of the DP World ILT20 Season 3.

Earlier, the Desert Vipers nearly made the perfect start as Mohammad Amir’s first ball saw Tom Kohler-Cadmore edge to first slip, but the catch was dropped. However, that miss didn’t prove costly as David Payne struck off his first delivery to account for Kohler-Cadmore. Payne bowled a stunning wicket maiden in the second over before Amir got Johnson Charles in the next one.

Charles smashed Amir for a boundary and a maximum, but the Pakistani pacer had the last laugh as he got his man for 16 off 10 balls. Three overs in, the Sharjah Warriorz were at 19/2 with two new batsmen at the crease. That did not deter them as Jason Roy hit a streak of boundaries to get going and Tim Seifert soon joined the party as they led their side to 45/2 at the end of the powerplay.

Roy found his groove as he played a fantastic pull shot against Khuzaima Tanveer to continue his blitzkrieg, but his 43-run partnership with Seifert was snapped by Nathan Sowter. The leggie bamboozled Seifert with a slower one and the New Zealand keeper-batter was out for 15 off 16 deliveries. Roy survived a close LBW call soon after as the Sharjah Warriorz put up 71/3 at the halfway mark.

The Sharjah Warriorz needed some quick runs to improve their run rate and Matthew Wade attempted just that, but Sowter struck again with a superb leg-break. Wade failed to read the delivery and his leading edge sailed straight to Sowter for a simple catch.

Roy remained the wrecker-in-chief as he continued to toy with the bowlers and brought up a magnificent 50 in 34 balls, with six overs to go. Some tight bowling from the Desert Vipers saw them give away just 14 runs and pick up a wicket in the next two overs as Moeen, playing his first match of the season, departed for 17 off 16.

Janat was the next man to come in and he played a stunning late cameo as he clobbered four sixes, including three in the 19th over, which yielded 23 runs. Tanveer picked up the wickets of Roy and Janat in the final over and 18-year-old UAE batter Ethan D'Souza hit a four off the last ball of the innings as the Sharjah Warriorz wrapped up their innings at 162/7.