Nicholas Pooran has bounced back nicely from the disappointment of the 2022 ICC World Cup, leading Deccan Gladiators to the title following a 37-run victory over New York Strikers in the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 on Sunday.

In the day/night fixture, Captain Pooran scored a 23-ball 40 as Gladiators scored 128-4 from their 10 overs. Pooran’s incredible form with the bat continued in the final, hitting five fours and a six as he and David Weise put on 74 runs in 30 balls after the side reached 54-3 after five overs.

Akeal Hosein had the champions in early trouble after dismissing Suresh Raina and Tom Kohler-Cadmore for seven and 11, respectively, and Wahab Riaz dismissed Andre Russell for nine in the first five overs.

Weise was even more brutal on the New York Strikers smashing two fours and four sixes in his 43 runs that came from just 18 balls. Pollard dismissed Pooran off the last ball of the innings to finish with figures of 1-16 in the only over he bowled.

However, Hosein was the best of the bowlers with 2-16 from his two overs.

Chasing 129 for victory, New York Strikers slumped to 29-4 midway the fourth over and were never able to recover. They suffered another blow when Pollard was forced to retire hurt after scoring 23 from 15 balls.

Jordan Thompson remained unbeaten on 22 while Azam Kkan contributed 16 and was the only other batter in double figures as Strikers could only muster 91-5 from their allotment of overs.

Josh Little, who claimed the wickets of Mohammad Waseem for a duck and Rashid Khan for eight, had the remarkable figures of 2-4 from his two overs. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hasnain took 2-12.

Weise was named Player of the Match for his exciting cameo and taking two catches.

Pooran, who has had scores of 77*, 80, 34, 50 and 38 prior to Sunday's final, amassed 345 runs during the tournament and was named Player of the Series.

West Indies all-rounder, Rovman Powell, stole the show with a maiden T20 hundred in the team’s 20-run win over England in the third of their five-match Betway Series at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Wednesday.

Powell smashed a belligerent 107 off 53 balls, including five fours and 10 sixes, to help the home side amass a total of 224-5 off their 20 overs. In the field, Powell took two catches to help the Windies restrict the English to 204-9 and secure a 2-1 lead in the series but it was with his batting that he spoke loudest.

“It means a lot. The last six or seven months have been tough, not getting a lot of runs so it was good for me to get an opportunity tonight and I took it. I hope it’s a breakthrough international performance. It’s just for me now to go back to the drawing board, think about the stuff that I did right and hopefully I can replicate it come Saturday,” Powell said after the game.

Many fans and pundits were left bemused when Powell strode to the crease at number four ahead of Darren Bravo, who batted at that position in the second game, but Powell said that the move was tactical and that he was told of the possibility the night before by captain Kieron Pollard.

“It was to split up the two left-handers. We didn’t want Pooran and Bravo at the crease at the same time, so I was the right-hander that slotted between them. Last night (Tuesday) he told me it's a possibility that I would bat four so I started to think back to some of my good innings and started to come up with a game plan. I think that plan served me well today. When I walked out to bat, I was confident because for the last five months I’ve been working hard and stroking the ball well so that confidence transferred into the game,” he said.

That confidence also comes from a fantastic stint Powell had at the Abu Dhabi T10 League in late 2021 for the Northern Warriors where he scored 305 runs in nine innings at an average of 33.88 with 15 fours and a mammoth 27 sixes.

“I think I’m in very good form. I told the guys I’m sure that I’m one of the best in the world at the moment when it comes to hitting the ball and it started from the T10. When I went there, I just tried to express myself and catch back the eyes of the selectors and now everything is coming to fruition,” he added. West Indies fans are hoping that that form will carry over into the fourth T20I which takes place on Saturday. 

Jamaica’s Alia Atkinson advanced to the final of the Women’s 100m Breaststroke at the FINA World Short Course Swimming Championships in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Atkinson was the third fastest qualifier into the semi-finals after Atkinson swimming 1:04.88 in Heat 6 to advance.

She then lined up in semi-final 2 where she swam 1:04.26 to finish second and advance as the fourth fastest qualifier to the final.

The final is scheduled for Monday.

Atkinson is seeking to add to her four previous medals at World Short Course Championships, including three gold and one silver.

Andre Russell crowned himself 2021 Abu Dhabi T10 champion after he produced an electrifying Man-of-the-Match performance to lead the Deccan Gladiators to a 56-run win over the Delhi Bulls on Saturday.

Andre Russell and Odean Smith starred with both bat and ball as the Deccan Gladiators defeated Dwayne Bravos’s Delhi Bulls by 17 runs in the first qualifier of the Abu Dhabi T10 on Friday.

You know things aren’t going well when your team suffers a massive defeat to the worst team in your league.

Rovman Powell is sure to feel that things are definitely not going his way this season when the Northern Warriors lost by 10 wickets to Chennai Braves on Monday in the Abu Dhabi T10 league.

On a personal level, Powell is having a great season. His 294 runs lead the league and his 26 sixes are second only to Liam Livingstone’s 28, but for all his success, Northern Warriors seem incapable of capitalizing.

The Jamaican all-rounder scored 31 runs on Monday from just 13 balls from which he smashed four sixes in his side’s 108 all out in 9.5 overs. He got support from Upul Tharanga, who scored 32 from 14 and Moeen Ali, who got 25 from 15 but Warriors were never able to get on top of Chennai’s bowling led by Ravi Bopara who took 2-6.

Curtis Campher (2-16) and Dasun Shanaka (2-25) did their part to contain Warriors' batsmen.

Chennai’s batsmen took full advantage of the opportunity racing to 114-0 in just 8.3 overs to record their first win of the season.

Mohammad Shahzad raced to 54 from just 29 balls smashing nine fours and two sixes along the way. His opening partner Bhanuka Rajapaksa needed six fewer balls to score 55 that included six fours and four sixes.

Oshane Thomas’ two overs went for 27 while Rayad Emrit’s nine balls cost the Warriors 20 runs as their team lost their seventh match of the season.

Odean Smith’s 11-ball 32 proved instrumental to the Deccan Gladiators’ 19-run victory over Northern Warriors in the Abu Dhabi T10 League on Sunday.

Chris Gayle smashed 52 runs from just 23 balls but Team Abu Dhabi lost by 10 runs to Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 league on Friday.

Northern Warriors crashed to yet another defeat in the Abu Dhabi T10 on Thursday, losing by eight wickets to Dwayne Bravo’s Delhi Bulls by eight wickets with a ball to spare, despite a blistering half-century from their captain, Rovman Powell.

A quick-fire half-century from Rovman Powell was not enough to prevent Northern Warriors from being defeated by the Bangla Tigers in the Abu Dhabi T10 on Monday.

Batting first, the 2018 champions made 126-4 from their 10 overs spurred by Powell’s 63 from 27 balls. The Jamaican all-allrounder smashed four fours and six sixes that propelled Warriors from 42-3 at the end of four overs.

Powell and Samit Patel added 80 in the last six overs before he got out off the penultimate ball of the innings. Patel remained unbeaten on 21 from 13 balls.

Needing 125 for victory, the Tigers scored 10 runs from the opening over but then lost Andre Fletcher for one at the start of the second over.

Willy Jacks replaced Fletcher and set about the bowling. He and Hazratullah Zazai added 23 for the second wicket before the latter was dismissed for 17.

However, before Jacks got going, he was losing wickets at the other end as Faf du Plessis (1), Karim Janar (16) and Johnson Charles (1) all went cheaply to see the Tigers slip to 58-5.

With 23 balls left Tigers needed 67 for victory and Jacks and Benny Howell delivered. Jacks hit eight fours and three sixes while Howell smashed four fours and a six in the 11 balls he faced to power their team to victory with five balls to spare.

Samit Patel gave up 19 runs in seven balls to finish with 1-19 while Rayad Emrit took 1-31 from his two overs. Chris Jordan was the most expensive of the bowlers, his one over going for 21 runs.

West Indies batsmen Rovman Powell and Lendl Simmons remained unbeaten to steer the Northern Warriors to an eight-wicket win over the Dehli Bulls, to claim the Abu Dhabi T10 title, on Saturday.

After winning the toss, the Warriors restricted the Bulls to 81 for 9 in 10 overs.  Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Evin Lewis got things off to a flier, after scoring 16 runs off the first over.  The innings soon lost momentum after Gurbaz’s mistimed shot was taken at cover and Lewis was gobbled up by Powell.  In the end, Mohammad Nabi top-scored with a 10-ball 21 for the Bulls.  Maheesh Theekshana starred with the ball for the Warriors after claiming 3 for 14.

In pursuit of a gettable target, Warriors skipper and in-form batsman Nicholas Pooran took responsibility by promoting himself up the order.  He was, however, dismissed lbw by Fidel Edwards on 12.  Simmons and Waseem Muhammad, however, kept the scoreboard ticking over.  Opener Muhammad scored 27 off 22 but was dismissed before Powell (16 from 8) and Simmons (14 from 12) finished the proceedings.

Powell hit the winning runs with a huge six with 10 balls left.  Theekshana received the Man of the Match award while Pooran was named Man of the Series.  Northern Warriors are the first team to win the trophy twice.

Lendl Simmons came up trumps for the Northern Warriors Friday in their seven-wicket win over Team Abu Dhabi with two balls to spare to advance to the final of the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament.

Chris Gayle plundered 84 runs from 22 balls as Team Abu Dhabi defeated Maratha Arabians by nine wickets in the Abu Dhabi T10 earlier today.

Evin Lewis and Sherfane Rutherford came up big for the Delhi Bulls who defeated the Deccan Gladiators by eight wickets despite a captain’s knock from Kieron Pollard in the Abu Dhabi T10 tournament today.

Delhi won the toss and put the Gladiators to bat and they were in immediate trouble at 34 for 3 after three overs. However, Pollard came to the rescue smashing 47 from just 18 balls. The Gladiators captain smashed four fours and four sixes that propelled his side to 118 for 7 even as wickets fell at the other end.

Fidel Edwards returned figures of 1 for 34 from his two overs. Dwayne Bravo was slightly more expensive with 1 for 34 from his two. However, the chief destroyers were Ali Khan who took 2 for 4 including Pollard’s wicket and Amad Butt, who returned 2 for 20 from the 10 balls he bowled.

Chasing 119 proved to be child’s play for the Bulls.

Lewis, who smashed 55 from 16 balls against the Maratha Arabians on Saturday, picked up from where he left off, racing to 35 from just 14 balls in a first-wicket stand of 90 with Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who bludgeoned the bowling for 47 runs from 20 balls.

Imran Tahir took the wickets of both openers within nine balls as Delhi slumped to 98 for 2, two balls into the seventh over. However, Rutherford ensured there would be no further stumbles smashing two fours and two sixes in his 13-ball knock that sealed victory for Delhi with 11 balls to spare.