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That's all that we have from the inaugural contest of the 2024 ILT20. We will be back with more of the same tomorrow - the action moves to Dubai as the Dubai Capitals take on the MI Emirates! Join us right here at Sportskeeda for our coverage of the same, and a whole lot more - there's heaps of cricketing action lined-up over the weekend! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Sooryanarayanan Sesha and Arya Sekhar Chakraborty. Good night - see you tomorrow!
Jamie Overton is the Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: Had a good run at the Big Bash, missed out last year here with a stress fracture, nice to come back here and join the Gulf Giants and get off to a winning start. Was trying to hit the wicket as hard as possible. Try to keep it really simple. Just trying to keep what I've been doing, picking the brains of the likes of CJ (Jordan).
James Vince (Gulf Giants captain): I think it was a pretty good all-round performance. No real stand out but start of the competition everybody looking in good form bodes well for us. Jamie played a brilliant knock. Although the Warriors got off to a pretty decent start, we kept hitting our right lengths. We can improve on our fielding. We have got some quality fielders and we have to up the game in that aspect. Lots of contributions throughout the match.
Tom Kohler Cadmore (Sharjah Warriors captain): I think we were 20 short in both bat and ball. I felt they executed better than us. We can learn a lot from how they bowled. They smashed it half way down the surface, that will be the message going forward about adapting to conditions. We have to make sure we stay at the top of the stumps. Yeah, I think when a team scores 200 you need to bat really well to chase it. There are lite areas where we can improve. They hit the right lengths and we fell short of answers.
Time for the post-match presentation ceremony with Daren Ganga.
Match summary:
Gulf Giants win by 31 runs
James Vince 45(35) | Jamie Overton 3/29 (4) Johnson Charles 57(38) | Maheesh Theekshana 4/15 (4)
A resounding start to their defence of their title from the Gulf Giants! They were in a bit of strife when Johnson Charles and Martin Guptill were going great guns, but much like Theekshana in the first innings, Jamie Overton turned up for the Giants with the ball, and nipped out the big fishes one after the other! The Warriors' middle order just weren't good enough in getting the job done, succumbing to scoreboard pressure.
Guptill and Charles got the Warriors off to a flier. The opening wicket took ages to come as the Warriors opening duo - Charles in particular, dug into the Gulf Giants bowling. The Giants bowlers struggled with their line and lengths early on in the powerplay as the Warriors put up a total of 56 in the first 6 overs, with both openers firing on all cylinders.
Aayan Afzal Khan and Mujeeb sneaked a couple of tight overs in after the powerplay, but Guptill and Charles went along their merry way. Jamie Overton, having been handed the ball for the first time in the 11th over, went on to deliver the big blow the Giants required - cramping Guptill for room and getting him to slice on towards Gleeson. Overton went on to account for the well-set Charles the next over, and the game seemed completely different after that.
Tom Kohler-Cadmore kept the Warriors in it for a while, but he, too, mistimed one and was well held by Vince off Drakes. The rest of the middle-order never really got going - Daniel Sams struggled during his 11-ball stay, which tilted the game heavily towards the Giants. Chris Woakes' knock of 22 came far, far too late as the Giants wrapped things up rather convincingly.
20
overs
167/7score
4
2
4
4
1
1
runs
Chris Sole*
2(3)
Chris Woakes
23(13)
Chris Jordan
2/35
19.6 Chris Jordan to Christopher Sole, slower good-length delivery around the middle stump, nudged away towards the on side for a single. That's the end of the match, Gulf Giants win by 31 runs.
19.5 Chris Jordan to Chris Woakes, slower length delivery around middle, played away towards long on for a single.
19.4 Chris Jordan to Chris Woakes, FOUR! Woakes enjoying his time out in the middle. Opens the bat face to slice that away past the backward point fielder and short third and races away to the fence.
19.3 Chris Jordan to Chris Woakes, FOUR! Full-length delivery a shade outside off, Woakes slices it away off the outside half of the bat, down towards the sweeper cover fielder, a good effort in the deep but couldn't quite track that back in play.
19.2 Chris Jordan to Chris Woakes, pace off delivery on a length around the off-stump, Woakes goes swinging at that, ends up getting a top edge which falls in no man's land, a couple of runs taken.
19.1 Chris Jordan to Chris Woakes, FOUR! That has been timed well for a boundary. On a length around the off-stump, Woakes makes some space and bunts this away back over the bowler's head, just beats the long-off fielder and into the fence.
Chris Jordan (3-0-19-2) is back into the attack
Gleeson closes out on a good note - with a wicket to his name! Just the formalities remain to be completed - the Gulf Giants have killed the game off rather silently!
19
overs
151/7score
0
W
1
0
1
0
runs
Chris Sole*
1(2)
Chris Woakes
8(8)
Richard Gleeson
1/36
18.6 Richard Gleeson to Christopher Sole, great finish and a terrific over from Gleeson. An accurate yorker on the leg stump and that goes between the legs of Sole.
18.5 Richard Gleeson to Chris Woakes, slower fuller-length delivery on the pads, looped into the leg stump, Woakes misses out on the clips, off his pads towards the square leg region for a single.
18.4 Richard Gleeson to Chris Woakes, again a swing and a miss. Pace off delivery on a good-length a shade outside off, Woakes goes for the hoick across the line but bit too early into the shot, misses out.
18.3 Richard Gleeson to Christopher Sole, on a good-length around the off-stump, punched away towards the long-off fielder and rotates the strike.