Hafeez, Masakadza and Bishoo sparkle, Sreesanth bags four in defeat

Darren Stevens smashed 36 off 18 deliveries, while Mohammad Hafeez picked up three vital wickets for Texas Chargers as they completed a 34-run victory over Morrisville Unity. Sreesanth picked up four wickets, but his effort was ultimately in vain.

Chargers got off to a poor start as Sreesanth sent Hafeez and Mukhtar Ahmed packing in the second over. Unfazed by the early dismissals, captain Ben Dunk smashed Dane Piedt for a four and a six in the next over.

Dunk and Thisara Perera rotated strike consistently to keep the scoreboard ticking, before Piedt ended the 35-run third-wicket stand in the fifth over, Corey Anderson completing a brilliant catch diving forward to send back Thisara.

Dunk couldn't hold the fort for much longer as a straighter delivery from Piedt rattled his stumps three balls later. Darren Stevens took matters into his own hands and increased the run rate with his attacking display. He hit Calvin Savage for a six and a four off consecutive deliveries in the seventh over before his partner Upul Tharanga slammed a six over long-on to complete the over.

The English all-rounder hit Najaf Shah for consecutive boundaries in the next over, with Tharanga adding a six in the final delivery. Sreesanth then hit back, dismissing both Stevens and Tharanga in the ninth over.

Unity were rocked early in their chase as Fidel Edwards had Parthiv Patel lbw with the first legal ball of the innings, after he had started with a wide. Hafeez then sent back Chris Gayle, having him caught and bowled in the third over.

Shehan Jayasuriya kept the Chargers in the chase by hitting Ehsan Adil for three fours and a six in the fourth over. However, Edwards ended his stay at the wicket with a surprise bouncer in the next over.

Hafeez struck two more times in the sixth to leave Unity 48 for 5, requiring 62 off the last 24 balls. Their task grew even more difficult when Tanvir dismissed Navin Stewart in a one-run seventh over.

With Corey Anderson struggling to get going, scoring at less than a run a ball, the chase fell apart. Anderson hit the last two balls of the match to the boundary to finish unbeaten on 16 off 17 balls.

Quickfire cameos from Aaron Finch and Ashley Nurse handed California Knights their second win of the campaign as they beat New York Warriors by 15 runs. Finch scored 24 runs off 12 balls, while Nurse smashed 22 off nine deliveries to keep the Knights' hunt for the top four alive.

Finch's decision to bat paid off as Knights stitched together a total of above 100. The stand-in captain found the fence once in the first over and hit two boundaries in the second. He then hit Abdur Rehman for a six in the third before the Warriors left-arm spinner struck back to have Finch caught at long-on.

Jacques Kallis took the run-scoring baton after that, hitting Dhammika Prasad for a four and a six in the fourth over. However, Prasad had his revenge in his next over, when Kallis miscued an attempted big hit.

Nurse was the next batter in and he made his intent clear as he dispatched Abdul Razzaq for a six over long-on off the first ball he faced. Ricardo Powell joined in the fun with two successive sixes off Jerome Taylor, before falling lbw to give the former West Indies quick his second wicket. Nurse hit two more sixes, one each in the last two overs, leaving Warriors needing 107.

The chase began on a positive note as Kamran Akmal and TM Dilshan stitched together 22 runs in the first two overs. Devendra Bishoo turned things around, though, having Akmal stumped in the third over and Richard Levi caught in the deep in the fifth, while only conceding 10 off those two overs. With Ben Laughlin bowling a tight fourth over as well, Warriors were left needing 71 off their last 30 balls.

Dilshan and Misbah-ul-Haq kept their hopes alive, putting on 43 off 24 for the third wicket. Fortunes swung rapidly: Dilshan was run out in the penultimate over, only for Misbah to hit the next ball, a no-ball from Pawan Suyal, for six. It came down to 21 off six balls, and Pathan finished the game with an excellent last over, fiving away just five runs.

A stellar display with bat and ball helped Atlanta Riders register a colossal 48-run victory over New Jersey Triton's. Both sides are level on points at the wrong end of the table, but both still have a chance to qualify for the knockouts.

Opting to bat, Riders lost their top three before hitting the 20-run mark, with Bipul Sharma getting Triton's off to the perfect start by dismissing Robin Uthappa with the first ball of the innings. Hamilton Masakadza (43 off 25) and Hammad Azam (38 off 16) then revived Riders with a fourth-wicket stand of 74 off 32 balls.

Masakadza began cautiously, scoring 8 off his first 10 balls, before launching Monty Panesar for a six in the fifth over. In the next over, Hammad hit Peter Trego for three consecutive sixes. He dealt similarly with Panesar in the seventh over, hitting him for two sixes in a row.

The duo kept finding the fence consistently in the last three overs, before Trego ended their scintillating partnership in the final over.

The Triton's faltered in the chase from the word go, with Gautam Gambhir following his former Kolkata Knight Riders opening partner Uthappa in being dismissed off the first ball of the innings. Kamrul Islam was the bowler, and he struck again in the first over by getting Naman Ojha to play on.

Two more wickets fell in the second over, with Harmeet Singh dismissing Jesse Ryder and Cameron Delport. Yusuf Pathan flickered briefly, hitting Kamrul for two sixes, and Chris Barnwell gave him some support with a pair of fours in the fourth over. Mohammad Irfan cleaned up both batters in the fifth over, though, leaving Triton's 36 for 6.

They were eventually bowled out for 53, their innings folding up in just nine overs.