Major League Cricket 2023: Trent Boult trebuchets Texas, MI New York in final!

TRENT BOULT RAN A TORNADO through the Texas batting line-up, setting up MI New York for a place in the MLC grand finale.

Batting first, Texas struggled to stay maintain consistency as Boult unbolted the entire top order, sending back Faf du Plessis and Mitchell Santner early on. Although Devon Conway (38 off 35) tried his best to turn things around, even he fell to Boult's incredible 4-0-24-4 spell when New York needed the break-through.

If it wasn't for Milind Kumar (37 off 34) and David Miller (17 off 10) trying to fight back, Texas would not have reached the 158 run mark.

Chasing a total like that, while not the most difficult, isn't easy either. The New York batters demonstrated remarkable composure when the early departure of Slad van Staden put them under some pressure. Shayan Jahangir (36 off 18) and Nicholas Pooran (23 off 20) did a lot to stabilise the innings before Daniel Sams (1/31) got them both out; as a fielder and as a bowler, respectively.

After that, it was down to Tim David (33 off 20) and Dewald Brevis (41 not out off 33) to get them over the line. Which they did with grace and ease, with an over to spare.

MI New York came into the playoffs as an underdog, having finished 4th on the table, barely qualifying for the Eliminator. But the way they have taken out the big guns to win their way to the finale is absolutely remarkable; and Trend Boult's destructive bowling played a major part in it.

The sold out crowd at Grand Prairie Stadium witnessed history on a Friday night; and it has set up a scintillating final clash between MI New York and the Seattle Orcas.

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