Formidable fightback by Flames leaves Dublin Guardians pointless

The Irish sent the Amsterdammers in and initially seemed to be paying the price. Although the first wicket fell after 2.4 overs, 39 runs were already on the board by then. This was largely thanks to Steve Smith, who showed more than a glimpse of his class, including two colossal sixes that landed on the adjacent athletics track. Tim David contributed 35 runs and Curtis Campher 32 to the final score of 169/7. The 39-year-old Indian superstar Ravichandran Ashwin continued to bamboozle the opposition with 1-18 in his four overs. 

Innings Guardians

Thanks to James Vince, who is in great form, Dublin seemed to be cruising to victory quite easily. The 35-year-old Englishman was in a class of his own with 73 runs from 46 balls. However, after keeper Scott Edwards caught him off a skier in the thirteenth over (114/3), things went downhill for the Irish, so much so that thirteen runs still had to be scored in the final over. 

A boundary early in the over would have made the match even more exciting, but the seasoned offspinner Aryan Dutt (2-28) didn't let it come to that. His brilliant closing over yielded only two runs, one of which was a bye, and Dutt took two wickets. His Dutch colleague Tim Pringle came off the field with even better statistics (3-22). A chillingly exciting duel of a very high standard.

 Rockers push Dockers back

In the morning hours, the Edinburgh Castle Rockers had given the Rotterdam Dockers a rather surprising thrashing. The Rockers posted a decent 148 thanks to a productive middle order (McMullen, Evans, Delany) but went all out. For the Rotterdammers, Jai Moondra, David Wiese, and Anrich Nortje each took three wickets.

Rotterdam had no answer to the Scottish attack. The fact that Faf du Plessis became top scorer with 21 runs speaks volumes. Edinburgh has two left-arm spinners in the team who took a combined 4-40: Mark Watt 2-23 and Mitchell Santner 2-17. Right-arm seamer Tom Curran topped them with 3-16 as Rotterdam was bowled out for 93. With this impressive win, Edinburgh are at the top, followed by Belfast.

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