It wasn’t to be and Rana Naveed’s (4-9) late hat-trick saw Gemini to victory in front of a fired up crowd as the Lions lost five wickets for six runs following the Marshall debacle.
Lions’ defeated captain Brian Lara refused to blame the decision for his side’s defeat but admitted the game was in the balance at that point.
“We did pretty well to get the opposition in the position they were in the first half of the game,” Lara reflected.
“I think Marshall’s decision was a bit of a tough one. We were still in the game then.
“But we played good cricket and knew it was always going to be a fight. We put ourselves in a good position, we just didn’t finish the job and credit must be given to the opposition.”
Opposite number Virender Sehwag was pleased to have mixed aggression with patience in pursuit of the trophy.
“Sometimes you have to be calculated and sometimes you have to be aggressive,” explained Sehwag.
“I was aggressive in the front and the middle overs a little more on the defensive side to take the game to 16 or 17 overs and not attacking in that time to give them easy runs.”
Lara raised eyebrows after winning the toss and fielding on a Dubai track that had seen six wins in its seven previous games coming from those who batted first.
The Arabians are the only side to win after doing anything other than winning the toss and batting in Dubai, beating the Lions after losing the toss and fielding when the two sides last met and the MCL opener when Libra Legends put them in.
Early signs suggested Lara may rue that decision and that it would be another Sehwag-inspired Gemini battering as he plundered Fidel Edwards to the point boundary just three balls in.
However, those draped in red at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium were left disappointed as the man responsible for a large majority of the traffic in and out of the gates quickly departed.
Red and purple was the common denominator at the Ring of Fire final, their fandom given a tempo to follow by their own cluster of bhangra drummers.
The wicket of Sehwag, the all consuming pinup boy of the MCL, saw Gemini reduced to a sluggish 63-3 after 11 by a Leo Lions outfit enjoying the slow turner.
Fidel Edwards (2-27), Robin Peterson (1-25), Scott Styris (2-18) and Johan Botha (1-19) all starred with the ball for the Lions and by the time Styris removed Sangakkara for 30, those Gemini fans were flashed across the big screens, once again with hands on heads and wearing aghast looks of concern with their team 89-4 and just 5.5 overs remaining.
They were right to be worried, Sehwag and Sangakkara contributing 67% of the franchise’s runs in the lead-up to the final and their middle-order largely unused.
South African Justin Kemp spared his side’s blushes with an unbeaten 32 from 29 balls to nudge Gemini up to what proved a match winning 130-6 from their 20 overs.
Kyle Mills and Graham Onions both struck in their respective first overs of the Lions’ innings and the fat lady was warming her vocal chords until Brian Lara (who retired hurt on 28 with runners not allowed before becoming Naveed’s third victim) and Marshall had unfortunate ends to their innings.
The result was a hugely popular development, the Gemini fans – who constituted nearly the entire crowd presence in the stadium – dancing to the tune of victory as they romped to the first MCL title.
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