DARWIN: Shamyl Hussain scored a half-century to help Pakistan Shaheens thrash ACT Comets by nine wickets in their Top End T20 Series match at the DXC Arena on Monday.

Shamyl’s unbeaten 57 off 44 balls helped the Shaheens to overhaul the 123-run target with four overs and as many balls to spare, the opener having smashed nine fours in his innings.

He collaborated with Basit Ali for a 66-run opening stand, with the latter contributing a 27-ball 28 before Shaheens captain Rohail Nazir got his side across the finish line with a quickfire 39, that included four fours and a six.

Earlier, left-arm chinaman bowler Faisal Akram got two wickets for the Shaheens at the expense of just 22 runs. Sajjad Ali and Arafat Minhas picked up a wicket each to restrict ACT Comets to 122-7

For the hosts, Nicholas Broes top-scored with 37 off 34 (two fours) while Zak Keogh made 23 off 31 and Hanno Jacobs registered 20 off 17.

Scores in brief:

ACT COMETS 122-7 in 20 overs (Nicholas Broes 37, Zak Keogh 23, Hanno Jacobs 20; Faisal Akram 2-22); PAKISTAN SHAHEENS 125-1 in 15.2 overs (Shamyl Hussain 57 not out, Rohail Nazir 39 not out, Basit Ali 28).

Published in Dawn, Aug 1st, 2023