Stallions seal consolation win
by Brendon Atwell 11 October 2012, 21:00
A thrilling half century by Haris Sohail guided the Sialkot Stallions to a six-wicket victory over Hampshire in their final Pool One Champions League T20 qualifier at the Bidvest Wanderers in Johannesburg on Thursday.
Full Scorecard: Hampshire v Sialkot Stallions
The English county struggled for momentum after losing the toss and batting first, stuttering to 143 for eight in their allotted 20 overs. Twenty-three-year-old Australian Glenn Maxwell held Hampshire’s innings together with a well rounded 42 from only 29 balls with four fours and three sixes. The majority of the Hampshire top order made brief contributions but none could provide Maxwell with the support to establish the match-winning partnership needed on a surface offering some assistance to both seamers and spinners alike.
Umaid Asif had a day to forget with the ball with his two wickets costing 42 runs, included four wides. Raza Hasan (4-0-34-1) was also expensive but the rest of the Stallions attack were exceptional in conceding less than six runs per over.
Pakistan’s Stallions began poorly when Imran Nazir charged down the pitch to the fourth ball of the innings and was bowled by Liam Dawson without scoring. Shakeel Ansar and Haris Sohail added 24 runs for the second wicket before Ansar was bowled by paceman David Griffiths for 15. Chris Wood claimed the third Stallions wicket when Maxwell took a good catch to get rid of Shahid Yousuf for three with the total on 28-3.
Haris Sohail brought up his half century from 50 balls with a square cut to the point boundary. Shortly afterwards, Shoaib Malik was stumped by Bates off the bowling of his Pakistan teammate, Shahid Afridi, for a well played 39 from 25 balls which included six fours and one six. It brought an end to a fourth-wicket partnership of 96 from just 62 balls.
The Hampshire attack maintained admirable intensity in a match which meant nothing to either side as both had been eliminated before it began. Afridi and Griffiths both returned figures of 4-0-26-1 but the game was concluded by Sohail who finished with an unbeaten 63 from 57 deliveries with a six and eight fours.
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HAMPSHIRE: MA Carberry, JM Vince, JHK Adams (capt), SM Ervine, GJ Maxwell, Shahid Afridi, LA Dawson, CP Wood, MD Bates (wk), DJ Balcombe, DA Griffiths
SIALKOT STALLIONS: Imran Nazir, Shakeel Ansar (wk), Haris Sohail, Shahid Yousuf, Shoaib Malik (capt), Ali Khan, Naved-ul-Hasan, Bilawal Bhatti, Raza Hasan, Sarfraz Ahmed, Umaid Asif
