An aggressive half-century from Shimron Hetmyer helped propel Gulf Giants to a five-wicket victory over Desert Vipers in the ILT20 league in Dubai on Sunday.

Hetmyer scored 70 from just 35 balls as Gulf Giants scored 196-5 to win with three balls to spare. Despite the impressive knock from the Guyanese batsman, he did not do it alone as Chris Lynn was equally impressive scoring 71 from 42 balls in the winning effort.

Lynn and Hetmyer’s partnership of 117 from 56 balls helped get Gulf Giants’ chase back on track after they had lost Tom Banton, James Vince and Rehan Amhed for three, four and one, respectively, with only 30 runs on the board.

Hetmyer was eventually dismissed in the 14^th over having hit five sixes and five fours. Lynn fell in the 17^th leaving the dependable David Weise and Liam Dawson to take the Giants to victory.

Weise was unbeaten on 22 from 19 balls while Dawson was not out on 16 from just nine balls in the end.

Sheldon Cottrell was the best of the Vipers’ bowlers with 2-24 from his four overs.

Earlier, Vipers owed their challenging total to Alex Hales 99 from just 57 balls. He hit 10 fours and five sixes in his knock and got support from Colin Munro, who scored 39 from 23 balls and Sherfane Rutherford, who contributed 27 from 15 balls as Desert Vipers scored 195-4 from their allotment.

It proved to be a tough target but one that Hetmyer and Lynn were able to achieve.

Rovman Powell hit a magnificent 97 from 41 balls to lead the Dubai Capitals to a thrilling 16-run victory over the MI Emirates in a high-scoring match in the ILT20 League in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

Powell, the Player of the Match, hit four fours and 10 sixes while powering Dubai Capitals for 222-3 from their 20 overs. Powell featured in a second-wicket partnership of 121 from just 57 balls with former England captain Joe Root, who scored 82 from 54 balls.

Root and Robin Uthappa had laid the foundation with an opening stand of 78 from 53 balls before the latter was dismissed for 26.

Powell was eventually dismissed by Kieron Pollard from the last ball of the innings, but the damage was already done.

Chasing the highest score in the tournament so far, MI Emirates lost three wickets for 26 runs early including that of Nicholas Pooran for a duck in the sixth over.

His dismissal brought together Pollard and Andre Fletcher and together that made things interesting for Dubai that came into the game on the back of three consecutive losses.

Together, Pollard and Fletcher went on the offensive smashing balls to all parts as they stitched together a stand of 118 with the Trinidadian scoring the bulk of those runs, 86 from 38 balls with eight fours and six sixes before he was dismissed by Powell in the 16^th over with his side still needing 79 from the last 24 balls.

Najibullah Zadran got them closer with a quickfire 30 from just nine balls but once he fell, yorked by Fred Klaasen in the 19^th over, the remaining runs proved elusive despite the best efforts of Fletcher, who remained unbeaten on 35 at the end with MI Emriates on 206-5.

West Indies All-rounder Rovman Powell starred to help the Dubai Capitals to a 73-run win over the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders in Friday’s opening match of the DP World ILT20 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Capitals skipper Powell top scored with 48 while Indian Robin Uthappa got 43 to lead the team to a competitive 187-6 from their 20 overs.

Powell’s knock came off just 29 balls and included three fours and as many sixes while Uthappa’s innings lasted 33 deliveries with three fours and one less six.

Joe Root and Sikandar Raza also both chipped in with 26, respectively, against two wickets apiece from Ravi Rampaul (2-36 from four overs) and Ali khan (2-45 from three overs). Captain Sunil Narine and Andre Russell were the other wicket-takers.

Powell also produced the goods with the ball with 2-15 from two overs as the Knight Riders were reduced to just 114-9 off their 20 overs

Mujeeb Ur Rahman was also excellent with the ball conceding just 16 runs in four overs to go along with his two wickets.

Paul Stirling was the only Knight Riders batsman to produce any resistance with a 38-ball 54 including five fours and two sixes.