Charles stars as Warriorz keep playoff hopes alive with ADKR romp

 Mohammad Abdullah, Senior Sports Reporter

Johnson Charles smashed the second consecutive half-century to steer Sharjah Warriorz to a four-wicket victory over Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (ADKR) in an ILT20 match to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Zampa and Milne picked up three wickets each as Warriorz thwarted ADKR to a161/8 and knocked down the winning run with five balls to spare.

With the win, Warriorz catapulted to the third spot in the table with eight points from as many matches. The top four teams will qualify for the knock-out stage.

Chasing, Warrioz’s openers Tom Kohle-Cadmore and Johnson Charles picked up from where they left in the last match. They gave a blitzkrieg start and set the tone for a successful chase.

Both the openers played sensibly and added 66 runs for the first wicket. They frustrated the ADKR bowlers as the Warriorz marched relentlessly toward the target.

ADKR bowlers were left pondering on how to break the partnership. Viyaskanth finally broke the partnership to bring a temporary respite to the ADKR camp. Kohler-Cadmore had done his job. His 39 off 21 deliveries featured three sixes and four boundaries.

UAE player Rohan Mustafa failed to capitalise on the opening partnership as he was clean bowled by Narine for 5.

After dismissing two players in quick succession, ADKR started fancying their chances of a come-from-behind victory.

Charles continued to lead the chase. He took the charge in his hands and started leading from the front.

Charles and Jason Roy knew how important the match was for Warriorz to keep their playoff hopes alive.

They did not take any undue risk and added 45 runs for the third wicket in six overs to keep the chase alive. Charles, who was the hero of the last match against Dubai Capitals, sprinted to his fifty in 27 balls.

He brought the equation down to 28 needed off 41 balls before Narine had him caught by Sharafu for his second scalp of the day. Charles 35-ball 65, was studded with four hits to the boundary and three over it.

After the departure of Charles, Warriorz lost two more wickets in the next 10 runs. Roy and Etah D’Souza were sent back by Holder in quick succession and Seifert was caught by Narine off Hinds.

Fall of four wickets in just 17 balls, left the match evenly poised. ADKR were pressing hard to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Earlier, Kyle Mayers smacked a blitzkrieg fifty and shared a couple of big partnership to help Knight Riders post a fighting total of 161/8.

Milne and Adam Zampa took six wickets combined and conceded a total of 60 runs from eight overs.

Milne uprooted the stumps of Andries Gous for a golden duck to give Warriorz the first breakthrough.

Joe Clarke got off to a blazing start and added a quick-fire 20 runs with Mayers to take the score to 29. But he could not convert his start into a big score.

Milne got rid of Clarke for his second scalp of the day. Clarke holed out to Seifert after playing a cameo of 8-ball 15, studded with three boundaries.

Roston Chase and Mayers knuckled down to repair the damage and bring the innings back on track. They added 58 runs for the third wicket and kept the Warriorz’ bowlers at bay.

Chase was the more brutal of the two as he struck 33 off 21 deliveries to maintain the momentum.

Warriorz needed to break the partnership to stop ADKR from posting an unachievable total. But their bowlers had no clue how to stop the flow of runs as Chase was in devastating form.

Zampa gave Warriorz the much-needed breakthrough by trapping Chase in front of the stumps as ADKR lost the third wicket.

Alishan Sharafu and Mayers shared a 33-run partnership to take the score to 120/3 before Zampa got rid of the latter. After the dismissal of  Mayer, ADKR kept on losing the wickets in quick successions as Sharafu, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell were dismissed cheaply, leaving ADKR in tatters.

Sharafu holed out  Milne off Agar, Narine became the third victim of Milne and Russell was taken by Harmeet as ADKR lost four wickets within a space of 10 runs to be reduced to 130/7 from 120/3.

Jason Holder’s late blitz propelled the score to 161/8 as the wickets kept on falling at the other end. He smashed a 17-ball 30 with the help of two sixes and one four.