Premium Indians stunned defending champions Premium Windies in a pulsating low-scoring chase in the second match of the American Premier League 2023 at the Moosa Stadium in Pearland on Wednesday, December 2020.
The Windies restricted Keval Patel’s Premium Indians to 104 for seven in the first innings, thanks to some stupendous spells from Hayden Walsh Jr (3 for 20) and Raj Nannan (23 for 23). Former England all-rounder Ravi Bopara gave something for his bowlers to defend with his sluggish knock of 29 runs from 37 balls.
The chase looked like a walk in the park, but that wasn't the case. The dismissals of Aaron Jones (20) and Aaron Johnson (28) led to a crumble in the Premium Windies camp as they stuttered from 55 for 2 to 98 for 7 after the stipulated 20 overs. Sunny Patel’s 3 for 14 was instrumental with other bowlers ably backing him to defend the minuscule target.
In the second match of the day, Premium Americans thumped Premium Paks by 54 runs to register their first win of the season. Opener Kjorn Ottley (51) and middle-order specialist Gerhard Erasmus (35) scored a chunk of their side’s total runs - 156 for 4.
West Indies' 39-year-old leg-spinner Imran Khan scalped a fifer (5 for 18) to inflict a massive collapse in the Premium Paks’ chase. Ryan Scott’s 29 was the only effort seen with the bat in the second innings, where they were bowled out for 102 in 18 overs.
On that note, let’s take a look at the updated top run-getters and top wicket-takers in the American Premier League 2023.
American Premier League 2023 Most Runs List
Premium Windies' opening batter Shawn Findlay continued on the top spot in the list of most runs scored after the end of the third match of the American Premier League 2023. Despite a poor performance with just nine runs made off 11 balls, there wasn’t anyone to surpass the southpaw’s tally of 68 runs in two innings.
Premium Americans opener Kjorn Ottley moved to the second spot following a rampant fifty. Gerhard Erasmus is third on the list with a quiet gap against the first two positions. Erasmus has scored 41 runs from two innings at a strike rate of 141.38.
Ryan Scott (29), Ravi Bopara (29), and Aaron Jones (28) are the only three batters to have played just one match in the league from the top 10 run-scorers thus far.
American Premier League 2023 Most Wickets List
Hayden Walsh cemented his pole position by adding three more wickets to his fifer achieved the previous night. The Windies leg-spinner has claimed eight wickets in just two matches at an economy rate of 4.62.
Imran Khan and Raj Nannan have accumulated five wickets each, although the former has played one match fewer. Three bowlers have picked up three wickets apiece while three others have picked two wickets each in the top 10 wicket-takers list.
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