Take Samp Army to the top of the table with Qais, Irshad, and Gous.

2023.12.05

Samp Army currently has four wins in a row and is unquestionably in first place with eight points.

With the support of Andries Gous’ 20-ball 42 and the miserly three-wicket hauls from Qais Ahmad and Salman Irshad, Samp Army defeated Bangla Tigers by six wickets to extend their winning run to four games. They also shot up to the top of the standings with eight points after five games thanks to the victory.

Jason Holder hit in his opening over when Samp Army decided to field, but Jordan Cox took it easy on the bowlers until Qais and co. wrecked their innings. With the final ball of the fifth over, Qais first removed Cox, then in the next over, Karim Janat claimed two wickets. The Tigers went from 36 for 1 to 59 for 8 in 22 balls as Qais then removed Daniel Sams and Dominic Drakes off consecutive deliveries and Irshad claimed two wickets in an over. Tigers were brought to 82 by Benny Howell (11* off six deliveries) and Rohan Mustafa (11 off eight) before they were bowled out on the last ball of the innings.

As Samp Army responded, they lost Faf du Plessis early on. However, Gous hit two fours in the opening over and then took Shannon Gabriel for two fours and two sixes. Gabriel scored 26 runs in his opening over after going 2 for 2 on Monday. In the middle overs, Samp Army did become a little lost, but Gous’s furious knock offset that.

With 10 balls remaining, Samp Army was victorious thanks to the concluding strikes from Captain Moeen Ali and Najibullah Zadran.

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

@charith