Team Abu Dhabi keep rocking on

Team Abu Dhabi's Luke Wright clinched the man of the match award for his entertaining knock of 48 runs against Northern Warriors at the Zayed Cricket Stadium. - Photo by Ryan Lim

Abu Dhabi - Moeen Ali's side had thrilling tied their opening fixture against the Qalandars on the opening night.

Tournament debutants and the team carrying the hopes of the UAE capital - Team Abu Dhabi - remained unbeaten after notching their first win in the Aldar Properties Abu Dhabi T10 League on Sunday night.
The team, coached by World Cup-winning coach Trevor Bayliss, dusted off defending champions Northern Warriors by six wickets at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.
Moeen Ali's side had thrilling tied their opening fixture against the Qalandars on the opening night.
The Warriors, meanwhile, suffered their second successive defeat after Saturday night's loss to the Qalandars.
Moeen paid credit to the squad that they had managed to assemble.
"First of all, we obviously recruited very well," said Moeen, who scored 30.
"We have very good death bowlers, we have pace and spin. We were outstanding with the ball today (Sunday) and could not have asked for anything more. They could not get as many runs as they wanted and so we were amazing," added the England off-spinner.
Meanwhile, Warriors skipper Darren Sammy, who surprisingly opted to take the first dig at the wicket, said they still harbour hopes of making the playoffs.
"We are disappointed, we must admit this but we still got an opportunity to finish in the top four and make a run for the play-offs. The tournament is not over for us," said Sammy.
"Sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition. They really used the wicket quite well and you could see they had some really experienced bowlers. If you look at the bowling attack we had last year, with Wahab (Riaz) and Hardus Viljoen, who got the player of the tournament. We are missing both of them. But with that said, I'm not making any excuses. You still got to go out and execute your skills and so far, in the last two games, we have not been able to do that and consistently enough," added the West Indian.
Sammy also promoted himself to open the batting and made a 13-ball 17 with one six. But the Warriors' innings was neither here nor there.
"I've never opened the batting before but you see T10 brings you that type of opportunity where you want the guys who could hit the ball, batting most of the overs. If we could add a couple more percentage in the effort with the ball, we will be right back on track," he said.
james@khaleejtimes.com