Lahore Lions successfully defended an Umar Akmal-inspired 164 against Dolphins in their Group A match in Bangalore to keep their semi-final hopes alive, but it was Robbie Frylinck who stole the show on his 30th birthday, claiming three important wickets and scoring a quick-fire fifty.
Lions captain Muhammad Hafeez praised the sixth-wicket partnership between Akmal and Saad Nasim that bailed them out after a top-order collapse, as well as the spinners. “Akmal was exceptionally good and Nasim gave him excellent support,” he said. “Everyone chipped in very well. We were very confident, we knew we had very good spinners, and they have done a really good job.”
A poor start by Lions
Frylinck dismissed both openers in a two-over spell, giving away only six runs in the process. Agha Salman was then beaten by Kyle Abbott as he played across the line to leave Lions floundering 29-3 at the end of the six-over power play.
Captain Muhammad Hafeez then played on a Cameron Delport off-cutter onto his stumps to complete the top-order collapse. Arriving at the crease with the score at 34-4, Akmal wisely decided to consolidate, making just 14 off his first 15 balls. However, he was given a reprieve on 20 when wicketkeeper Morne van Wyk spilled a tough chance off Prenelan Subrayen’s bowling.
Counterattacking partnership
Akmal never looked back, launching Keshav Maharaj for a couple of sixes in the next over and then hitting Andile Phehlukwayo for 17 in the 15th to bring up his fifty off 31 balls. Nasim, who has been included in the Pakistan T20 squad to face Australia, supported Akmal well and by the time Frylinck returned to claim his wicket with the first ball of his second spell, the pair had added 92 off 53 balls.
Frylinck then gave away only seven in the penultimate over but runs continued to leak from the other end as Akmal powered Lions to 164-5, who had added 109 for the loss of one wicket in the final nine overs.
Dolphins’ batting collapse
Dolphins were then off to a poor start as Hafeez exacted revenge on Delport by cleaning up the left-hander in the first over. Van Wyk, eager to make amends for his error in the field, continued to find the boundary but wickets fell from the other end as Dolphins scored only 36 for the loss of three wickets in the powerplay, 29 of which were from Van Wyk’s bat. The trio of spinners – Hafeez, Nasim and Adnan Rasool – stifled the Dolphins batsmen and the pressure told as Van Wyk edged a poor Nasim delivery to short third man.
The chase was effectively over when Dolphins lost three wickets in nine balls to go from 74-4 to 79-7, with the asking rate climbing above 11.
Lions would have hoped to wrap up the tail as quickly as possible but Frylinck had other ideas and a clubbed hit over long-off off a Nasim long-hop was a sign of things to come. Just like with the ball, the all-rounder was poorly supported from the other end and Phehlukwayo and Abbott both fell in consecutive overs as Frylinck started to run out of partners.
Frylinck spoils Lions’ run-rate
However, also just like with the ball, Frylinck decided to do it all on his own and smashed Wahab Riaz for three consecutive boundaries in the 17th over before clearing the boundary four times against Aizaz Cheema in the 18th to reach his fifty in just 20 balls.
A glimmer of hope appeared with 31 required off 12 but a tight over by Mustafa Iqbal meant that 26 were required off the last six. Riaz improved his length in the final over, bar for a full toss that was dispatched for six over the off-side boundary, and the Lions won by 16 runs to keep their hopes of qualification alive.
Frylinck, who had made up for failing to defend 12 off the final two balls in the previous match against Perth Scorchers, was still hung up on what could have been. “Someone’s got to lose, unfortunately,” he said. “We came so close in the first game, unfortunately I got two balls wrong.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 28th, 2014.
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