Global T20 Canada, Toronto Nationals vs Montreal Tigers, 15th Match: 5 Talking Points

The final game of the first round saw an exciting and a nail-biting finish as the Darren Sammy-led Toronto Nationals beat Lasith Malinga’s Montreal Tigers on the last ball and with just 1 wicket remaining.

The trend of fielding first after winning the toss continued as Darren Sammy inserted the Tigers into bat first. Fifties from George Worker and Moises Henriques lifted the total to 176. Mohammed Sami starred with the ball for the Nationals as he took 3/34 and was one of the only two wicket-takers in the innings.

Chasing almost 9 runs an over, TTN lost their top three inside the first five overs and were reeling at 27/3. However, Anton Devcich and Nitish Kumar scored 40s to keep the Nationals in the hunt. But they once again lost a slump of wickets and slipped to 149/8. But Kieron Pollard dragged them to the final over (and was out on the 3rd ball of the 20th over) before Kesrick Williams hit the winning boundary to seal a thrilling game.

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#5 Mohammad Sami’s burst

In the three games he played before this game, Mohammad Sami didn’t pick a single wicket. He has largely been expensive and had an economy of more than 10 in two of those games. However, in the last group stage game, he was the best TTN bowler as he picked up a three-fer.

After conceding a four and a six in his first over, Sami came back well as he dismissed Sunil Narine and Dwayne Smith in the space of 3 deliveries. He first scalped Narine out with a bouncer and then foxed Smith with a clever slower delivery.

He did concede 12 runs in his third over but he returned with a very good final over where he conceded just 6 runs in the 18th over and also got the key wicket of Moises Henriques. He finished with figures of 3/34 and was one of the only bowlers to pick a wicket for TTN in this game.

#4 The Henriques-Worker partnership

Henriques scored his second successive half-century.

Moises Henriques has had a good tournament with the bat. He’s gone past the 20-run mark in every innings. In this game, he struck his second consecutive fifty and shared a key 127-run partnership with George Worker.

After the Tigers lost their openers in quick succession, the duo of Henriques and Worker not only steadied the ship but also managed to increase the scoring rate as the innings wore on. Henriques was the aggressor in the partnership as he constantly looked for boundaries and Worker was content with rotating the strike as he largely batted with a strike-rate hovering around a 100.

Once both of them were set, they went after the bowlers. In fact, after the 13th over, they scored 63 runs in just 28 balls before Henriques was dismissed. It was a brilliant partnership as it put the Tigers in a very good position. Henriques scored 50 while Worker scored 62 as MNT finished with 176 in their 20 overs.

#3 TTN’s early wobble

Smith was out early as TTN slipped to 27/3 in the 5th over.

Johnson Charles hasn’t had a great tournament. He has failed to get the big scores and also has failed to give the Nationals a good start at the top more often than not.

He once again failed in this game as he was out for a duck and Lasith Malinga gave his team an early breakthrough. Kamran Akmal who was playing his second game of the tournament struck three boundaries in the next few overs. Steve Smith who had walked in at 3 didn’t look fluent and was eventually dismissed by countryman Peter Siddle.

Kamran Akmal was then dismissed in the next over by Moises Henriques as the Nationals slipped to 27/3.

#2 Lasith Malinga still has it in him

Malinga has been very good in this tournament.

Lasith Malinga hadn’t been picked in the IPL auction and it showed that he was on the decline. He was less threatening and had started to leak quite a few runs. However, he has had a wonderful tournament and has picked up at least two wickets in every game.

In this game, he was brilliant. Opening the bowling, the Sri Lankan great got rid of Dwayne Smith in the first over as he bowled a very good first spell (with figures of 1/6 in 2 overs). He then came back in the 16th over (when 41 were required off the last 5 overs) and prized out TTN skipper Darren Sammy with a short ball.

He was nailing in the yorkers and the deceptive slower deliveries just like he used to and the batsmen just couldn’t get away. He picked up his 3rd wicket with his final delivery of the spell as he had Usama Mir plumb in front. Malinga returned with magnificent figures of 3/11 in his 4 overs.

#1 Contributions from Anton Devcich, Nitish Kumar and Kieron Pollard help TTN win a thriller

Pollard dragged the game till the final over and scored a crucial 37.

At 27/3, things looked didn’t look promising for the Nationals. But Anton Devcich continued his good form and his partnership with Canada batsman Nitish Kumar kept TTN in the hunt.

The duo didn’t hold back as they counter-attacked after the initial wobble. Devcich struck 7 fours and a six en route to his 34-ball 43 while Nitish was the aggressor and hit 46 in just 23 balls. The two batsmen shared an excellent 93-run stand.

However, both of them were dismissed in back-to-back overs as the Tigers clawed their way back into the game. The Nationals slipped from 120/3 to 149/8 (in 18 overs) and things looked very bleak for TTN. Kieron Pollard was still out in the middle (batting on 19) and had already struck a couple of boundaries. The big Jamaican all-rounder then struck a six in the 19th over before Sami hit another one to reduce the equation to 13 off the final over.

Pollard then hit Peter Siddle for a six and a four to bring it down to 3 off 4. But there was another twist as Pollard miscued one and holed out to long-on. With 2 required off the final ball, Kesrick Williams held his nerve as he hit a boundary off the last ball to seal a thrilling win for the Nationals.