Winnipeg Hawks, Vancouver Knights Victorious On Monday

Winnipeg Hawks’ hostile fast-bowler Fidel Edwards in action at King City against Toronto Nationals. Photo courtesy of http://www.gt20.ca/

By Ravi Madholall in Toronto
Points-leader Winnipeg Hawks and Vancouver Knights registered a victory each on Sunday when actions resumed at Maple Leaf ground, King City, Toronto in the 2018 inaugural Global T20 Canada tournament.

Winnipeg Hawks defeated Toronto Nationals by a convincing 56-run margin in the first encounter while Vancouver Knights carted off a comfortable 18-run victory over winless Montreal Tigers.
Discarded West Indies players Dwayne Bravo and Fidel Edwards produced superb performances to star for the Hawks.

The versatile all-rounder Bravo scored an enterprising 41 to help his team racked up 164-6 and then bowled impressively well as opposition Toronto Nationals were dashed out for 108 in the 18th over.

Barbadian quickie Edwards bowled with great hostility on an animated pitch to take two wickets for just eight runs from his four frugal overs. Edwards was later named player-of-the-match. Bravo captured two wickets for 23 runs from three tidy overs.

Leading the way was medium-pacer Tion Webster who collected four wickets for 22 runs from 2.2 overs, but it was Edwards who tormented the senior batsmen initially.

The win now takes Hawks to top of the points table with four points from three matches while second-place West Indies “B” also on four points but only have featured in two games so far.

Toronto Nationals, who have suffered two defeats from three outings, won the toss and immediately asked Hawks to bat first. They lost out-of-form experienced opener David Warner for 1 while makeshift opening batsman Sunil Narine followed quickly for 14.

Lendl Simmons (44) once again showed good aggression spanking three sixes and four fours in his 24-ball occupation at the crease.

At 80-4 in the 14th over, Bravo appeared and started his cameo innings hitting two huge sixes over mid-wicket. Ben McDermott batted nicely too contributing a steady 25 as medium-pacer Mohammed Naveed grabbed two wickets for 29 runs and West Indies fast-bowler Keswick Williams also picking two wickets but conceded 33 runs from his four overs.

When the Toronto Nationals team, which is being led by West Indies successful T20 captain Darren Sammy, began their reply, they never threatened the total. There was a regular fall of wickets despite a fighting 34 from New Zealander Anthon Devcich while Trinidadian Kieron Pollard continued to struggle with bat but made 25 from 41 balls.

In the other schedule, Knights took first strike at the invitation of the Tigers and they were able to set up a challenging 166-6 from the allotted 20-overs while Tigers once again failed to roar slumping to 148 all out off 19.4 overs.

South African Rassie Van Derdussen led the way for Knights with a boundary-studded, unbeaten 83 punctuated with five sixes and six fours.

He was supported by Babar Hayat who made 20 after skipper and pugnacious opener Chris Gayle was departed for four and the sensational Evin Lewis for 16. Peter Siddle and skipper Lasith Malinga claimed two wickets each.

Tigers, who languishing at the bottom of the points table with zero point after three matches, responded slowly. George Worker hit a top-score of 43 and 40 from Moises Henriques offering great fight. However, ace-pacer Tim Southee and left-arm orthodox spinner Saad Bin Zafar snared three wickets each to do the damage while West Indian Shandel Cottrell responsible for two victims.

The action continues on Wednesday with one fixture at the same facility from 11:00hrs. Montreal Tigers will collide with Edmonton Royals. The six participating teams took a day off Tuesday. Meanwhile, the first-round segment is slated to conclude on Sunday after each team playing each other four times. The second round will start on Tuesday with first-place team coming against the sixth-place side and the second-place winner will tackle the fifth-place team. The third-place winner and fourth-place side are expected to face off too.

The playoffs will commence shortly after while the final is fixed for July 15 at the same venue.