Victorians defuse Dynamites

Comilla Victorians, the form team of the tournament, took their place at the top of the table after beating their two closest rivals on consecutive nights with the second being a 12-run win over holders Dhaka Dynamites in the last match of the Chittagong leg at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium yesterday. 

With their seventh win in nine matches they went to 14 points, one above Khulna Titans who the Victorians beat by nine wickets on Tuesday night. Dhaka remain in third spot with 11 points from 10 matches.

It was again the Comilla bowlers, who shot out Khulna for 111 the previous night, who were the stars of the show as Dhaka were kept to 155 for eight in chase of Comilla's 167 for six. Shoaib Malik was once again stingy, giving away just 26 in four overs for the all-important wicket of Evin Lewis.

But it was Dwayne Bravo who provided the breakthroughs at the most pivotal times, getting rid of Shakib for seven in the 10th over before dispatching danger man Kieron Pollard off the first ball of the 18th over, which started with 44 needed off the last three, an imminently possible target with the big man at the crease, which was the decisive blow. Jahurul Islam hit a hattrick of boundaries off Hasan Ali in the next to reduce the margin, but Mohammad Saifuddin bowled him in the last over and kept his head, despite a Rony Talukdar six, to seal the win.

Earlier, after Dhaka won the toss and asked Comilla to bat, a top-heavy batting display followed but it was a strange one as instead of capitalising on a fast start provided by skipper Tamim Iqbal, the innings inexplicably slowed down after his dismissal for a 23-ball 37. Fellow opener Liton Das scored a sedate 34 off 30 balls and put on just 29 runs for the second wicket with Imrul Kayes before being stumped off Shakib in the 12th over.

With the score on 89, the platform was set for Imrul and Marlon Samuels to cash in and take the total as close to 200 as possible. But they added just 25 in 21 balls before Imrul became Kevon Cooper's first victim for a 24-ball 26 in the 16th over.

Samuels hit a 27-ball 39 featuring five fours and two sixes, the last of which he hit in the last over before falling to compatriot paceman Cooper. The last over produced two sixes, a four and two wickets, the second one being that of Jos Buttler. 54 runs came off the last five overs, and despite the earlier go-slow that proved to be enough.