Global Super League Match 1

DUBAI Capitals, led by a fine all-round performance from Shakib Al Hassan, beat Central Stags by 22 runs at Providence yesterday in the opening game of the ExxonMobil Global Super League.

Led by a well-calculated 58 from the left-handed 38-year-old Shakib Al Hasan, 41 from Sediqullah Atal and 20 from Jesse Bootan, Capitals reached 165-7.

Off-spinner Angus Schaw grabbed 3-27 from four overs and got support from Blair Tickner, who had 2-27 from his four overs.

Twenty-three-year-old Barbadian Matthew Ford, who played 13 ODIs for the West Indies, was the most expensive bowler with 0-41 from his four overs.

Shakib, a veteran of 71 Tests and 247 ODIs, reached his fifty with an edge to the thirdman boundary off Ford in the final over, which cost 16 runs.

The former Bangladesh batter, dropped early in his innings, reached the boundary seven times and cleared it once in an innings that lasted 37 balls.

Atal deposited Ford over the long-on boundary before flicking him for six in the sixth over, which leaked 18 runs, as he hit four fours and 20 sixes from 25.

When Stags began their run-chase in bright sunshine, Will Young and Dane Cleaver added 30 before Shakib struck twice in three balls to leave the team from New Zealand at 30-2 in the fifth over.

He first trapped Young (19) lbw, and in the same over, got rid of Dean Foxcroft lbw for a second-ball duck.

Cleaver (21) was then bowled by Aryaman Varma at 53-3 before Man-of-the-Match Shakib struck again when the left-arm spinner bowled Josh Clarkson (12) to leave Capitals on 73-4 as he bowled gun-barrel straight on a slow track.

Tom Bruce and William Clark joined forces as conditions became overcast and a mini-recovery before Shakib, in his final over, bowled Clark (20) at 115-5 to break the 43-run fifth wicket stand.

Bruce was dropped on 33 off Drakes, but it did not cost much as he hit a full toss in the same over to cover to leave his team on 137-6 in 19 overs. Bruce struggled to get the ball away, taking 39 balls for his 34, which included three fours.

SCORES: Capitals 165-7 (Shakib 58) Stags 144-8 (Shakib 4-13)