Fidel Edwards' hat-trick, and another Finch fifty in vain – T20 IPL 2024

Texas Chargers 60 for 2 (Hafeez 27) beat New Jersey Triton’s 57 for 9 (Trego 13, Edwards 3-5, Adil 3-12) by eight wickets

Fidel Edwards was the wrecker-in-chief for Texas Chargers, nabbing the tournament’s first hat-trick to set up his side’s first victory in US Masters T10 2023.

New Jersey Triton’s looked out of sorts from the word go as Edwards dismissed opener Naman Ojha and Yusuf Pathan off consecutive short deliveries in the first over. Jesse Ryder too struggled to find his rhythm before Ehsan Adil put him out of his misery.

The situation worsened for the Triton’s as Adil struck again, hitting the stumps with a full-length delivery to dismiss Chris Barnwell. Triton’s hit their first four of the innings in the fifth over when Danza Hyatt dispatched a low full toss from Sohail Tanvir towards deep midwicket. Skipper Gautam Gambhir walked in at No. 8 but was out second ball, deceived by a slower delivery from Imran Khan.

A swing and a miss from Bipul Sharma handed Edwards his hat-trick in the ninth over as the full-length delivery clipped the top of the off stump.

Chasing a mere 58, Chargers were off in a flash as Mohammad Hafeez slammed Peter Trego for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries in the first over. He followed it up with two successive sixes off Liam Plunkett in the next over. However, Plunkett responded by taking the pace off and castling Hafeez with his very next delivery.

Ben Dunk continued the attack, hitting RP Singh for 14 runs in the first four deliveries of the third over before the former India fast bowler dismissed the Chargers captain. Needing ten runs to win in 43 deliveries, Thisara Perera and Mukhtar Ahmed took the side home in the next over.

Morrisville Unity (Jayasuriya 27, Pienaar 23*, Powell 1-3) beat California Knights 100 for 4 (Finch 63*, Pienaar 3-13) by seven wickets

California Knights’ captain Aaron Finch‘s unbeaten 63 off 30 went in vain as an all-round show from Obus Pienaar (3 for 13 and 23 not out off 12) guided Mooresville Unity to a seven-wicket victory. The win propelled Unity to second on the table with five points from four matches.

Sent in, Knights got off to a slow start as the opening pair of Finch and Jacques Kallis struggled to find boundaries consistently.

Finch eventually slammed Najaf Shah for a boundary straight down the ground and followed it up with a splendid six over third man in the third over to change the momentum. However, his opening partner was sent back in the next over as he fell prey to quicker delivery from Pienaar.

Finch struggled to get his timing right but kept his composure and was the only Knights batter to reach double figures. Meanwhile, Pienaar continued to weave his magic and dismissed Milind Kumar and Suresh Raina off consecutive deliveries in his second over.

Finch continued to hold the fort from the other end and brought up his fifty off 25 balls. But with no other batter finding the boundary in the last five overs, Knights ended with a below-par total.

During the chase, Parthiv Patel and Chris Gayle added 30 in 2.5 overs before a quicker delivery from Ashley Nurse dismissed Gayle. Parthiv followed suit in the next over, getting out to Ricardo Powell.

Shehan Jayasuriya and Pienaar, though, continued the flow of runs by consistently dispatching the ball to the boundary and over it. Following the dismissal of Jayasuriya, off a straighter delivery from Pawan Suyal, Corey Anderson looked in a hurry to take his side home and improve their net run rate. The former New Zealand all-rounder hit Nurse for 20 runs in the last four deliveries off the ninth over to help his side seal the victory.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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