Samp Army 85 for 4 (Gous 42, Howell 1-8) beat Bangla Tigers 82 (Cox 27, Irshad 3-12, Qais 3-14, Janat 2-4) by six wickets
Miserly three-wicket hauls from Qais Ahmad and Salman Irshad, backed up by Andries Gous‘ 20-ball 42 helped Samp Army down Bangla Tigers by six wickets and extend their winning streak to four games. The win also saw them zoom to the top of the table with eight points after five matches.
After Samp Army elected to field, Jason Holder struck in his first over, but Jordan Cox lay into the bowlers before Qais and Co. derailed their innings. Qais first took out Cox last ball of the fifth over, and Karim Janat picked up two wickets in the next. Qais then sent back Dominic Drakes and Daniel Sams off successive balls, while Irshad picked up two wickets in an over of his own as Tigers slipped from 36 for 1 to 59 for 8 in 22 balls. Benny Howell (11* off six balls) and Rohan Mustafa (11 off eight) pushed Tigers to 82 before they were bowled out off the final ball of the innings.
In reply, Samp Army lost Faf du Plessis early, but Gous smashed Sams for two fours in the first over before taking Shannon Gabriel for two fours and two sixes. Gabriel, who had on Monday picked up 2 for 2, went for 26 in just his first over. Samp Army did lose their way a bit in the middle overs, but Gous’ whirlwind knock countered that.
Captain Moeen Ali and Najibullah Zadran provided the finishing touches, taking Samp Army home with ten balls to spare.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo