ILT20: Ahead of first home game, Warriorz’s Milne hopes for fans' support

Sharjah, Jan 16 After opening their campaign in International League T20 (ILT20) with a thrilling win, the Sharjah Warriorz fell short against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders but are hoping to get back to winning ways in their first home match at the Sharjah Stadium.

Chasing a target of 160 on a tricky pitch, the Warriorz fell short by 30 runs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium on Wednesday. Against the Abu Dhabi Knight Riders, the New Zealand pace bowler Adam Milne had given the Sharjah Warriorz the ideal start, bagging a couple of wickets in his first spell, as he finished the match with figures of 2-37. The Kiwi pacer was asking plenty of questions to the ADKR batters.

Reflecting on his team’s bowling performance and the pitch conditions, he stated, “I think with the ball, we probably didn’t finish as well as we wanted to and then they (Abu Dhabi Knight Riders), bowled really well. It was still sort of moving around a little bit even in the second innings, so it wasn’t particularly easy batting conditions. We lost a number of wickets early which obviously stemmed the flow of runs and made it a difficult task towards the end.”

It is still early days in the tournament and the Sharjah Warriorz, who began Season 3 with a confident win, are trying to focus on one game at a time. And up next for the Sharjah Warriorz, are the comforts of home turf.

Milne reiterated that belief, highlighting the importance of winning as many games as possible.

“I think in any tournament, it’s important to win as many games as possible. You always want to win every game but you can’t always do that. Obviously, we had a good win in a tight game the other day. It’s nice to get over the line in those sorts of finishes, but we’ve got a couple of games coming up in Sharjah. So, if we can get a couple of wins there (in Sharjah) then it puts us right back where we need to be,” he said.

Sharjah Warriorz will play their next two matches against Dubai Capitals on Friday and MI Emirates on Sunday respectively, at their home ground, the iconic Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Looking forward to playing in front of the home crowd, the New Zealand international added, “We’re all looking forward to getting out there and playing our first game at home. Hopefully, the fans can come in, put up a bit of support for us, and help us get over the line in a couple of days.”