Abu Dhabi T10: Jamie Overton bludgeons Pune Devils to set up victory for Team Abu Dhabi

Overton smashed four fours and three sixes in an 11-ball 38 to take his side home with nine deliveries to spare

Jamie Overton smashed four fours and three sixes in an 11-ball 38 to take Team Abu Dhabi to victory over Pune Devils. Courtesy Abu Dhabi Cricket

Jamie Overton resembled a Gulliver among the Lilliputians at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The 6’ 5” tall Englishman walked into the middle when Team Abu Dhabi required 40 to win from 21 balls to fire them to a five-wicket win over Pune Devils and their first in three games in this year's Abu Dhabi T10.

Overton smashed four fours and three sixes in an 11-ball 38 to take his side over the line with nine deliveries to spare after Luke Wright won the toss and elected to field.

Though they won convincingly in the end, the match was very much in the balance before Overton's heroics.

“We certainly needed it,” Wright, the Abu Dhabi captain said of the team's first win after losing to Deccan Gladiators and Qalandars.

“At the halfway stage obviously a bit disappointed with the way we bowled but to go and get a score like that was a great effort. It is great to see so many guys, obviously Jamie [Clarke] at the end there, playing that well.

“If we can win when Chris Gayle [out for 9] isn’t scoring as many runs as he wants - obviously he’s going to fire at some point as well - so it was an important win.”

Pune racked up 129-4, courtesy of a 25-ball 61 from opener Tom Kohler-Calder, his second successive half century.

Paul Sterling smashed a quick-fire 23 from nine balls but was the first to depart. Gayle played on Nepali medium pacer KC Karan and the UAE captain Ahmed Raza dismissed Wright to leave Abu Dhabi at 62-3 in the fifth over.

Clarke (29 from 9) and Ben Ducket (20 from 9) chipped in with useful scores before Hardus Viljoen snapped them both in successive deliveries at 90. That brought Overton to the crease to turn the script.

Northern Warriors captain Nicholas Pooran set the stadium alight in the next game.

The West Indian batsman smashed a 26-ball 89, studded with a dozen sixes and three fours, including 32 off George Garton.

He set the platform for his side to amass 162-4 in the win over Bangla Tigers by 30 runs.

“Batting to the end is important, something I've been working on,” Pooran said.

The Tigers were always behind in the chase but they did well with the UAE international Chirag Suri hitting a 16-ball 42 not out and sharing a 68-run stand for the third wicket with captain Andre Fletcher, who top scoring chart for them with 53.

Qalandars produced another outstanding performance to make it three from three with an emphatic win over Deccan Gladiators by 33 runs in the final game of the night.

Sohail Akhtar hit five sixes and half-a-dozen fours for a 31-ball 71 not out for his side to reach 118 for three.

The Gladiators in reply were given a sound start but Cameron Delport (19) and Mohammad Shahzad (23), sharing a 45-run partnership in four overs.

Delport’s run-out at the start of the fifth over triggered a dramatic collapse with five wickets falling for 14 runs and the Gladiators eventually ending up at 85-8.