Global T20 Canada, Montreal Tigers vs Edmonton Royals, 9th Match: 5 Talking Points

In what was a must-win game for them, Montreal Tigers put up a spirited show. They fought really hard and clinched their first win of the tournament and stayed alive in this competition.

After being inserted into bat by Edmonton Royals, the Tigers lost their top three inside the powerplay. But a resurrecting and fighting half-century from Moises Henriques and a small 22-run cameo from Najibullah Zadran pushed the score to 129 in 20 overs.

In reply, EDR replicated MNT’s start as they lost three early wickets and were reduced to 40/3. Luke Ronchi scored a quick-fire 30 before departing and leaving the score at 60/4.

Kevin O'Brien and Shaiman Anwar tried resurrecting the innings but once the former perished, it was a procession that went on and stopped only when they were bowled out. Peter Siddle took 4 wickets, while Lasith Malinga and Kevin Cooper took two wickets apiece in a win that was fashioned by the bowlers.

EDR and MNT are now tied at 2 points but the Royals have a game in hand.

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#5 Montreal Tigers’ opening partnership fails once again

Sunil Narine hasn't got big runs in this tournament.

Apart from the 51, they scored against CWI B Team, Dwayne Smith and Sunil Narine have not performed well as an opening duo. They’ve registered to ducks and 19 (today) apart from that 51. And that might be one of the reasons why MNT have struggled in this tournament.

In fact, their individual performances haven’t been great as well. Narine has scored 71 in 4 innings and has often got starts but has failed to convert them. Smith on the other hand, looks woefully out of touch. He’s registered a couple of ducks and has score 16 and 8 in the other two innings.

In this game, both batsmen were cautious before Narine nicked one to the keeper off Sohail Tanvir to end the opening stand which was worth 19. Smith followed him soon as he was caught at cover and gave Wayne Parnell his first wicket.

#4 Disciplined bowling effort from EDR

Parnell picked up 3 wickets and was the pick of the bowlers.

In the two games prior to this one, the Royals had largely bowled well. They continued their good run with the ball for the third straight game as they restricted the Tigers to just 129 in their 20 overs.

Skipper Sohail Tanvir, Mohammed Irfan and Wayne Parnell started really well as they bowled two overs each in the powerplay and conceded just 34 and also picked up 3 wickets. These three bowlers also bowled well towards the death keeping the scoring rate down. While Tanvir and Irfan ended with 1 wicket each, Parnell took 3/23, his best of this tournament.

Shahid Afridi, Kevin O'Brien and Pakistan left-arm spinner Hasan Khan backed these pacers really well. Afridi was the most expensive bowler for the Royals as he went for 28 in his 4 overs (at an economy of 7). It just shows how disciplined EDR were with the ball.

#3 Moises Henriques scores the first individual fifty for Tigers in this tournament

Moises Henriques has looked in decent touch in this Global T20 Canada tournament. He has got starts in every game but in this game, he converted it into a half-century.

The Tigers had a miserable powerplay as they reached 34/3 and needed a stable, solid hand to resurrect the innings. Henriques did just that as he scored a patient, hard-fought, a near run-a-ball 50 to help MNT reach a respectable total.

Coming out to bat at 25/2 (which soon became 30/3), Henriques got off the mark with a boundary to long-on. He then just largely looked to rotate strike and find the occasional boundary. He also shared a 52-run stand with Sikandar Raza who scored a 17-ball 20. Henriques batted till the 19th over before he holed out at deep point.

Battling innings!!!! @Mozzie21 #6sInThe6ix #GT20Canada @cricket_canada pic.twitter.com/5rGUrX65KH

— GT20 Canada (@GT20Canada) July 4, 2018

#2 Wickets tumble throughout the EDR’s innings

Kevin O Brien's wicket triggered a collapse.

28 was the highest partnership of EDR’s innings in their chase of 130. In fact, there were 3 partnerships of 20 or more, but they kept losing wickets in clusters. Luke Ronchi top-scored with 30 but none of the other batsmen stepped up as EDR slipped to their second straight loss.

After Ronchi was dismissed for 30, the Royals were 60/4. However, it looked like Kevin O Brien and Shaiman Anwar would take them home as they were batting smartly. But the former’s dismissal triggered a collapse and then the Royals lost a wicket almost every over before they were eventually bowled out.

#1 Peter Siddle and other bowlers shine as the Tigers register their first win

Essex v Yorkshire - Specsavers County Championship: Division One

Despite having a star-studded bowling attack, the Tigers had conceded 203, 187 and 166 in their three encounters and had lost all three. Yes, the batting had disappointed a touch, but it was the bowling that was the cause of concern as despite having some big names, they weren’t able to deliver.

In this game, the batting once again failed to stand up as they could only manage 129. Defending a modest total, 17-year-old Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane provided the first breakthrough as he sent Andre Fletcher packing in the 3rd over.

Peter Siddle then got two in two in the 7th over and he helped the Tigers claw their way back in the game. Sunil Narine then got the big fish Luke Ronchi in the 10th over. But the partnership between Kevin O'Brien and Shaiman Anwar started to take the game away from the Lasith Malinga-led side.

But the skipper struck as he got the prized wicket of Kevin O Brien and from then on, the Royals just fell apart. Kevon Cooper took two, Malinga got another before Siddle finished things off and ended with a 4-fer.

This is Montreal Tigers’ maiden win in the Global T20 Canada and it has come on the back of some outstanding bowling performance.