Desert Vipers and Alex Hales begin ILT20 with commanding win

Hales ended unbeaten on 83 as Vipers swept past Sharjah Warriors comfortably

Dubai: Sharjah Warriors 145-5, Desert Vipers 148-3 - Desert Vipers win by seven wickets

Scorecard

Sharjah Warriors slumped to a second defeat in as many days as Desert Vipers made their ILT20 entrance in style.

Alex Hales led a commanding run-chase with Sam Billings for company as Sharjah, who were beaten on Saturday by MI Emirates, were considerably second-best once again.

Hales ended unbeaten on 83, with Billings falling one short of fifty with just three runs required for victory. By then, though, the game was up courtesy of the 128-run partnership between the Englishmen.

Despite a long batting line-up, Warriors were never able to break free of the shackles when they batted first. Evin Lewis is yet to score a run in the new competition after a second successive duck, dismissed once again by a left-arm seamer with the new ball – Fazalhaq Farooqi against MI, Sheldon Cottrell today.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz (22) miscued Gus Atkinson straight up in the air and Tom Kohler-Cadmore (6) holed out in the deep off Tom Curran to give the Surrey seamers a wicket each.

^{Alex Hales made an unbeaten 83 for Desert Vipers (Getty Images)}

England left-handers Moeen Ali and Dawid Malan both made 18 but fell to Tymal Mills and Benny Howell, respectively, as a game with a strong English presence to it went firmly in Vipers' direction.

Former Kent teammates Joe Denly (36*) and Mohammad Nabi (34*) at least ensured Sharjah had something to bowl at, adding 77 in an unbroken stand through the last nine overs of the innings, but it was never likely to be enough.

That was true even when Rohan Mustafa holed out to Chris Woakes at deep square leg off Moeen in the first over of Vipers' reply and again in the next over when Colin Munro fell in similar fashion, flicking Woakes to Denly in the same position as Mustafa had found Woakes six balls earlier.

Hales was at the non-striker's end for both dismissals but was unperturbed, striking nine fours and three sixes to guide his new team to victory.

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