Sreesanth's final over heroics pushes Harare Hurricanes to emerge victorious against Cape Town Samp Army in Super Over thriller

Harare, 25^th July 2023: The Harare Hurricanes showed nerves of steel in their game against the Cape Town Samp Army at the Harare Sports Club, as they won a very closely contested game via a Super Over. The Hurricanes had S Sreesanth defend 8 runs in the final over to take the game into the Super Over, where batters Mohammad Nabi and Donovan Ferreira kept a calm head to seal an important win.

Batting first, the Harare Hurricanes did not have the kind of start they would have hoped for. Robin Uthappa (0) and Regis Chakabva (0) were dismissed in the very first over and Evin Lewis (3) followed suit in the third, all falling to Sheldon Cottrell.

Donovan Ferreira was looking to keep the scoreboard moving at the other end, even though the wickets kept falling. Eoin Morgan (3), Mohammad Nabi (4) and Samit Patel (1) were the next to depart, even as Ferreira continued to pile on the runs from his end.

Ferriera soon completed his half-century and had support from Luke Jongwe in the second half of the innings. The duo went onto put on a 57-run stand for the seventh wicket, with Ferreira doing the majority of the heavy lifting. His power-hitting abilities saw him hammer five sixes in the final over, as he finished unbeaten on 87, having smashed 8 sixes and six boundaries during his 33-ball stay in the middle. That helped the Hurricanes eventually get to 115/6.

In response, the Samp Army started with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Tadiwanashe Marumani, who put on a brisk 32-run opening stand. Both batters have been in good form in the tournament, but it was Marumani who was dismissed first for 10, after which Gurbaz and Bhanuka Rajapaksa took charge.

Gurbaz continued to entertain the crowd with a flurry of big hits, smashing six maximums while also piercing the field to pick up a couple of boundaries. However, after he got his half-century and the partnership with Rajapaksa reached 58, Gurbaz was cleaned up by Samit Patel for 56.

After that, Rajapaksa held up one end while the in-form Karim Janat took the attack to the Hurricanes’ bowling. Rajapaksa though was dismissed for 9 by Mohammad Nabi in the penultimate over, after which, S Sreesanth struck with his first delivery, to clean up Janat for 16.

The eventful final over also saw Sreesanth run out Sean Williams with a brilliant piece of fielding, after which he kept it on the money, and took the game to a Super over, as the scores were tied after the final delivery. This was Sreesanth’s first game in the tournament.

In the Super Over, Karim Janat and Rahmanullah Gurbaz began proceedings for the Samp Army, and while Gurbaz was dismissed for a duck by Nandre Burger off the second delivery while trying to attack. Janat and Matthew Breetzke though added 6 more to the cause, asking the Hurricanes to chase down 8 to win.

Donovan Ferreira and Mohammad Nabi kicked things off for the Hurricanes, and help their nerve to eventually chased down the 8 runs without losing a wicket.

Brief Scores –

Harare Hurricanes - 115/6 (Donovan Ferreira – 87*, Luke Jongwe – 10*; Sheldon Cottrell – 3/2, Richard Ngarava – 2/26) tied against Cape Town Samp Army – 115/4 (Rahmanullah Gurbaz – 56, Karim Janat – 16; Samit Patel – 2/23, Sreesanth – 1/5)

Super Over –

Cape Town Samp Army – 7/1 (Karim Janat – 5*, Matthew Breetzke – 1, Nandre Burger – 1/7) lost to Harare Hurricanes – 8/0 (Mohammad Nabi – 4*, Donovan Ferreira – 2*; Peter Hatzoglou – 0/8)