Defending champions MI New York started their Major League Cricket (MLC) 2024 campaign with a comprehensive six-wicket win over Seattle Orcas at Church Street Park, Morrisville on July 5. After Trent Boult and Rashid Khan's three-wicket hauls helped MI New York bowl out Seattle Orcas for 108, Nicholas Pooran's unbeaten 37-ball 62 helped them chase down the target with 34 balls to spare.
Rashid, Boult hunt Orcas
Earlier, Kieron Pollard won the toss and opted to bat first. With the new ball, Boult dismissed Quinton de Kock and Naumar Anwar in his first two overs. USA's Aaron Jones struggled and got out lbw to Rashid. The Afghanistan skipper then dismissed Klaasen as well. The collapse continued as Imad Wasim and Michael Bracewell departed for single-digit scores too. Shubham Ranjane and Harmeet Singh shared a crucial partnership. Ranjane scored 35 runs from 31 balls whereas Harmeet contributed with a 14-ball 20. Rashid and Boult got rid of them as well. Seattle Orcas were bowled out for 108 with five balls left in the innings.
Pooran smashes fifty
In the run chase, MI New York lost their openers Ruben Clinton and Monank Patel to Cameron Gannon in the third over. Pooran took the mantle to use the fielding restrictions. He smashed Gannon for 22 runs in an over. Zaman Khan was introduced in the attack and dismissed Shayan Jahangir. Tim David could not get going either and lost his wicket to Nandre Burger. Meanwhile, Pooran reached his fifty from 31 balls. In the 15th over, skipper Pollard ended the run chase with a maximum. The wicketkeeper-batter scored 62 runs from 37 balls including seven fours and a couple of sixes.
Pooran credits bowlers
Despite a brilliant bowling performance from MI New York’s Boult and Rashid, Pooran was named ‘Player of the match’.
“It's nice to start with a win, the key is to get off to a good start. We had a wonderful powerplay, Rashid then came and did his job, it was important that everyone came up and contributed to the win. I wanted to recognise the state of the game, understand the match-ups and the condition of the wicket. I just played according to the merit of the ball, the Caribbean batter said in the post-match presentation.
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