Toronto Nationals advanced to Sunday’s summit match of the fourth edition of the Global T20 Canada because to an all-around performance by Romario Shepherd. On Saturday, Toronto Nationals defeated Brampton Wolves by five wickets in Qualifier 2. Toronto and the Montreal Tigers, the reigning champions, will square off for the championship.
On a tricky surface, the Wolves were asked to bat first and posted a formidable score of 141/8 in their 20 overs thanks to an undefeated half-century by Nick Hobson. The Australian’s heroic performance featured two sixes and five boundaries in 51 runs off 34 deliveries.
In response, Toronto’s triumph was established by the opening combination of Unmukt Chand and Colin Munro, which scored 57 runs off of 33 deliveries.
The Wolves got off to a slow start as rookie Kobe Herft (1) and captain David Warner (13) took things cautiously. However, in the third over, Herft was dismissed by former Australian pacer Jason Behrendorff, costing them their maiden wicket quite quickly.
In the subsequent over, Warner suffered the most severe blow as he attempted to play a Romario Shepherd delivery on to the onside but was trapped leg before.
Warner was trying to push the pace. Jack Jarvis (20) and Beau Webster (8) attempted to restart the innings, but when the latter misplayed a slower ball from Canadian bowler Jatinderpal Matharu, Rassie van der Dussen executed a superb deep-field fielding move to cling onto a big skier.
The Wolves were battling at 57/4 in the tenth over when Matharu struck again in his subsequent over, this time forcing Jarvis back to the dugout. Though they continued to lose wickets often, Hobson led the way as the Brampton hitters mounted a valiant comeback.
With a 4/32 average, Shepherd was the most productive bowler for Toronto. Two wickets were taken by Matharu.
After opener Unmukt Chand (19) and captain Colin Munro (36) scored at a healthy clip, the Toronto chase was off to a flying start. However, Munro misjudged a delivery from Brampton bowler Andrew Tye.
From then on Brampton bowlers picked up frequent wickets, but Toronto batsmen kept scoring at a steady clip.
Before Toronto attempted to pull an incoming delivery from Beau Webster, but instead gave an inside edge on to the stumps, they were brought within sight of the mark by Mohammad Nawaz (24 not out) and van der Dussen (14).
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With ten balls remaining, Toronto easily passed the finish line, but Nawaz persisted in rallying the bottom order. With a brilliant display of hitting, Shepherd (10 not out) took Akhil Kumar for two straight boundaries to bring up the winning runs.