Mahela Jayawardene turned back the clock and Shane Bond displayed his mastery over fast bowling as Sagittarius Strikers launched their Masters Champions League campaign with an easy victory against Virgo Super Kings on Friday night.
Jayawardene, who opened the innings with captain Adam Gilchrist (13), hit three sixes and seven fours on his way to a 47-ball 69 as the Strikers set up a respectable 157 for six in their allotted 20 overs at the Dubai International Stadium.
The Super Kings’ chase failed to get going once their captain Graeme Smith was dismissed by Bond on the fifth ball of the innings. Bond went on to claim two more to derail the innings to finish with 3-22. But it was fellow New Zealander Daniel Vettori who had the rivals in all sorts of trouble, claiming two wickets for six runs in his first three overs before finishing on 3-19.
The Super Kings were down for the count at 73-7 but Azhar Mahmood enlivened the proceedings with a 31-ball 51 during his 52-run association with Brett Lee (21 off 16 balls).
Vettori ended the alliance by dismissing Mahmood as the Super Kings eventually ended up 26 runs short at 131-9.
Earlier in the day, Leo Lions roared to a 26-run win against Capricorn Commanders. After No. 8 Johan Botha’s (42 not out off 29 balls) brilliant late-order flourish lifted the Lions from a precarious 86-6 to 156-8, pacer Fidel Edwards claimed 4-33 to stifle the Commanders. Botha (1-22) and Scott Styris (2- 14) too did their part as the Commanders were restricted to 130-8.
Openers Ashwell Prince (34 off 37 balls) and Andrew Symonds (21 off 21 balls) provided a flying start, raising 63 runs in nine overs but once the latter was dismissed by pacer Heath Streak, the innings crumbled. They lost the next seven wickets for just 51 runs and it was game over.
