Northern Warriors 103 for 5 (Munro 36*, Ahmad 2-12) beat Samp Army 94 for 8 (Moeen 37, Mathews 3-19, Mithun 2-12, Neesham 2-19) by nine runs
The spotlight just can't stay off Angelo Mathews. He wanted to be part of Sri Lanka's World Cup but was ignored. Then his wish came true when he was called up as an injury replacement. He, unwittingly, provided one of the moments of the tournament when he became the first batter in international cricket to be timed out and now, in his next assignment, at the Abu Dhabi T10, he helped his team, the Northern Warriors, defend a total of 103 by picking up a last-over hat-trick.
Mathews, who had been dismissed for a duck, had 19 runs in the bank when he sent the Samp Army captain, Moeen Ali, back for 37 and polished off the tail. He was set up by former India and Karnataka fast bowler, Abhimanyu Mithun, who took more wickets than he conceded runs in the sixth over of the chase, uprooting Jason Holder and Karim Janat and leaving Samp Army at 46 for 5 with an asking rate of 14.5.
Earlier, a Northern Warriors innings that was suffering from a lack of acceleration got a proper kickstart when Colin Munro walked in at No. 5 and slammed an unbeaten 36 off 15 balls with two fours and three sixes, each of which came in the ninth over and came back-to-back-to-back. James Neesham lent a crucial hand in the victory as well, hitting 12 off 7 and picking up 2 for 19.
Deccan Gladiators 118 for 8 (Kohler-Cadmore 68*, Karunaratne 3-25, Jawadullah 1-11) beat New York Strikers 96 for 6 (Waseem 26, Zahoor 2-12, Wood 1-17) by 22 runs
Tom Kohler-Cadmore cracked an unbeaten 68 off 33 deliveries as Deccan Gladiators beat New York Strikers by 22 runs in the opening game of the Abu Dhabi T10. Gladiators bashed 118 from their allotted ten overs, with Kohler-Cadmore smashing four fours and six sixes while keeping one end intact. The next highest score by a Gladiators batter was Andre Russell's 17.
Chamika Karunaratne grabbed 3 for 25 for Strikers, including back-to-back wickets in the seventh over, but they failed to restrict Gladiators despite inserting them.
Strikers were also in trouble early on in their chase, losing openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Kusal Perera by the start of the third over. Muhammad Waseem and Asif Ali briefly rebuilt with a 33-run stand, but Luke Wood struck in the fifth over and got Waseem for 26 from 13 balls. Strikers kept losing wickets regularly from there on, and were kept to 96, with Zahoor Khan finishing with 2 for 12 off his two overs.