Dominant Qalandars bring Warriors to the ground

Abu Dhabi - The Qalandars fired their way to a mammoth 66-run victory

 Qalandars took inspiration from the Karnataka Tuskers from earlier on, to grind defending champions Northern Warriors to the ground, in the sixth fixture on Saturday night.
The Qalandars, who tied with Team Abu Dhabi in the match of the debutants on the opening night, fired their way to a mammoth 66-run victory with an over to spare at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
After young Englishman Tom Banton had unravelled a 28-ball 53 with three boundaries and three sixes, the bowlers Lahiru Kumara, George Garton, Chris Jordan and Seekkuge Prasanna got the job done.
Qalandars became the second team to defend a target after the Tuskers had done so against the Delhi Bulls, in the earlier match.
Captain Dawid Malan was chuffed to get a win on the board.
"We were disappointed not to win yesterday (Friday) but we learned from the mistakes," said Malan.
'In T10 cricket, you need to put on a better performance. We set the bar pretty high for ourselves and we want to try and do it in every game," he added.
Meanwhile, Warriors captain Darren Sammy said his team played poorly on the night.
"We played poor cricket today. We let them score too many runs. We didn't do well up front with the ball and we never turned up well with the bat," said Sammy.
Earlier, Banton had made his intent clear and it was an intriguing battle between him and Andre Russell in the opening over.
Banton had seemed like a rabbit caught in the headlights after Russell had whipped in a delicious outswinger, full of pace. The young gun tried to poke at it but was well and truly beaten as it sailed into his England teammate Sam Billings's gloves.
He was then dropped off the second ball as Russell couldn't quite hold on to a tough chance
But thereafter, Banton knuckled down and got his mojo back.
Banton began with a crisp six off Chris Wood in the next over, shuffling across before tucking it over deep square leg. He then slog swept Chris Green over square leg for a boundary.  
Luke Ronchi, no stranger to some big knocks, too came up with a couple of boundaries, first sweeping Green over midwicket and then smoking a juicy half volley from Rayad Emrit through extra cover.
But Emrit had the last laugh as he got him out the next ball after Ronchi edged an inswinger that held its line. And it was the easiest of collections for Billings.
The Qalandars suffered a blip as their captain Dawid Malan gave the charge to Green but the wily bowler changed his length at the last moment. Malan missed it completely and Billings whipped the bails off in a jiffy.
Philip Salt made 11 from eight balls with a six, while Jordan Clark scored 15 from eight balls that included two sixes.
Chris Jordan remained unbeaten on 10 from three deliveries with a boundary and a six.
Brief scores:
Qalandars: 112 for 4 in 10 overs (Tom Banton 53 not out, Jordan Clark 15, Luke Ronchi 14, Philip Salt 11, Chris Jordan 10) beat Northern Warriors: 46 all out in 9 overs (Sam Billings 14, Lahiru Kumara 3-10, George Garton 3-10, Chris Jordan 2-2, Seekkuge Prasanna 2-7) by 66 runs.
Man of the Match: Seekkuge Prasanna (Qalandars)
james@khaleejtimes.comSeamer Karim Janat took 5-11 and led Afghanistan to a convincing 41-run victory over West Indies in their second Twenty20 on Saturday to level the three-match series at 1-1.
 Janat's T20 figures were the best ever by an Afghanistan bowler.
 The final match is on Sunday.
 Afghanistan chose to bat and scored 147-7. Janat (26) was the joint top-scorer with opener Hazaratullah Zazai, who hit 26 off 15 deliveries.
 Medium fast bowler Kesrick Williams was once again the pick of the West Indies bowlers with 3-23 that included the wickets of Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Zazai off successive deliveries in the fifth over.
 But West Indies' top order crumbled against four overs from Janat - with hard-hitting Evin Lewis (14) holing out in the deep and captain Kieron Pollard (7) dismissed plumb leg before wicket off the right-arm seamer. West Indies finished on 106-8.
 Off-spinner Samiullah Shinwari held the previous T20 record for Afghanistan with 5-13 against Kenya at Sharjah, United Arab Emirates in 2013.