A thrilling show of batting firepower was witnessed in the National Cricket League Sixty Strikes tournament on Sunday as Atlanta Kings took on Los Angeles Waves in Qualifier 2 of the tournament. In the battle for a spot in the final, Los Angeles couldn't quite get going, putting a mediocre total of 96/3 on the board while batting first. Despite getting good starts, LA batters couldn't take the team past a 100-run total. For the most part of the game, LA managed to keep themselves in the hunt for a win, but Tom Bruce's four consecutive sixes at the end changed the course of the game.
Batting first, LA saw a struggling Stevie Eskinazi put on 23 runs as an opener in 21 balls, striking at a poor rate of 109.52. His opening partner Rishi Ramesh was dismissed for a 5-ball 1. Raymon Reifer also couldn't orchestrate a big partnership in the middle and was dismissed for 16 runs off 8 balls.
However, Joe Burns' 21-ball 38 and Waqas Saleem's 5-ball 5 saw the team finish the innings on a score of 96/3 in 10 overs. Imran Tahir, Danish Aziz, and Ben Russell picked up a wicket each for the Atlanta Kings.
Chasing the target, the Kings kept losing wickets at regular intervals but still managed to keep themselves in line with the required run rate. None of the Atlanta batters managed to cross the 20-run mark individually before Tom Bruce turned the game on its head.
Bruce's 4-ball 24 earned Atlanta an important win, taking them into the final of the National Cricket League Sixty Strikes. In the final Atlanta will now square off against Chicago who reached the final with a win in the Qualifier 1.
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