Global T20 Canada, Day 1- Round Up

The much-awaited Global T20 Canada league kicked off on 29 June 2018. In the inaugural edition of this T20 league, six teams will compete against each other in a round-robin format. This will be followed by the playoffs. Further, this is also the first ever T20 league that is being played in North America.

This league has attracted the attention of fans all around the world. The primary reason for this is that the duo of Steve Smith and David Warner would be playing professional cricket for the first time after Cricket Australia imposed a 1-year ban on them. Also, some big names from all around the world are taking part in this league.

Toronto Nationals vs Vancouver Knights – Match 1, Round 1

Vancouver Knights posted a mammoth total on the board courtesy heroics from Lewis and Russell

The inaugural match of the Global T20 Canada took place between Toronto Nationals and Vancouver Knights. Darren Sammy is the skipper of the Toronto team while Chris Gayle leads the Vancouver team. This game was a high scoring one and fans and the sponsorers couldn’t have asked for a better start to the league. After winning the toss, Sammy opted to bowl first.

The Vancouver Knights got off to a good start in the game. Openers Chris Gayle and Evin Lewis were playing some aggressive cricket and scored 30 runs within the first 3 overs. But then, the Kuwaiti bowler Nikhil Dutta picked him up as Steve Smith pouched the catch of the big man. Soon, Kieron Pollard, who bowled after quite some time in professional cricket dismissed Chadwick Walton for 8 runs. The South African batsman, Rassie van der Dussen also failed to get going as he only managed to score 25 off 19 and was dismissed by Nikhil Dutta.

However, the real onslaughts of the innings came from the willows of Evin Lewis and Andre Russell. Lewis never went on to the backfoot despite the wickets falling on the other end. He scored a blistering 96 off 55 balls but missed out on a well-deserved century. Russell provided the team with the final impetus scoring 54 off 20 balls which also included six huge sixes. At the end of 20 overs, they scored 227 runs for the loss of 4 wickets.

Steve Smith announces his come back with a brilliant knock in the chase

Chasing 228 runs is never easy even for the best batting lineups in the world. And, that too, the Toronto Nationals tumbled right in the first over of the chase as Pakistani batsman Nizakat Khan was dismissed for 6 runs. Then, with some high expectations on him, former Aussie skipper Steve Smith walked out into the middle.

Along with Johnson Charles, he built a partnership of 53 runs in the next 4 overs. Charles was dismissed by Zafar after he scored 30 off 12 balls. Then, Smith stitched another wonderful partnership together with Anton Devcich as these two added 91 runs for the third wicket. Smith was dismissed after he scored 61 off 41 balls. Soon, Kieron Pollard was also dismissed for just 4 runs and it seemed as if the team was in trouble.

But, Anton Devcich kept going strong. He scored 92 runs off just 44 deliveries and smashed 10 fours and 6 sixes in the innings. Sammy with a 10-ball 22 runs at the end ensured that his team got over the line with 4 balls to spare. All the Vancouver bowlers were quite expensive in this game.

Brief Scores

VCK: 227/4 in 20 overs (Evin Lewis 96, Andre Russell 54*, Nikhil Dutta 2/26)

TTN: 231/4 in 19.2 overs (Anton Devcich 92*, Steve Smith 61, Fawad Ahmed 1/35)

Toronto Nationals won by 6 wickets