California Knights confirmed a top-two finish in the US Masters T10 League play-offs after defeating New Jersey Triton’s by 24 runs in a rain-affected match at the Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, Lauderhill, Florida, on Friday.

The Knights posted 76/1 in their rescheduled five overs before restricting the opposition to 52/3. The result meant the Triton’s have been eliminated from the competition. In the later game, early leaders Texas Chargers beat Atlanta Riders by 22 runs for a crucial win.

New Jersey opener Yusuf Pathan was dismissed by Pawan Suyal for just four runs in the first over. However, Chris Barnwell gave the New Jersey side’s innings some momentum with a few boundaries to take his team’s score to 45/1 in 4 overs. However, Ben Laughlin picked up two wickets in the last over and sealed the deal for the Knights.

When New Jersey Triton’s won the toss and put California Knights into bat, Ashley Nurse and Aaron Finch got the team off to a flying start with 21 runs coming from the first over. However, Finch fell to Liam Plunkett in the next over.

Thereafter, Irfan Pathan and Nurse strung a blistering partnership of 45 runs to help their side post a 77-run target from five overs. Pathan remained unbeaten on 31 runs off 13 balls, while Nurse was not out on 24 runs from 10 balls.

Brief scores: California Knights 76/1 (Irfan Pathan 31*, Ashley Nurse 24*, Liam Plunkett 1/10) beat New Jersey Triton’s 52/3 (Chris Barnwell 29, Jesse Ryder 14, Ben Laughlin 2/7) by 24 runs.

US Masters T10: Texas ride over Atlanta for crucial win in play-off push

Texas Chargers registered a big win on an important day, as they defeated Atlanta Riders by 22 runs on Friday. Chargers were the dominant unit on the day, thanks to a half-century from captain Ben Dunk, as they swatted away the Riders’ challenge with relative ease.

Batting first, the Texas team got off to a good start as Mukhtar Ahmed took the attack to the bowlers, while Mohammad Hafeez played the waiting game. Ahmed got 17 from seven balls before being dismissed. Hafeez also departed soon after, but from then on, it became the Ben Dunk show. The captain led from the front, while the likes of Thisara Perera (2) and Upul Tharanga (9) fell cheaply as they looked to accelerate.

Dunk, who was hitting it cleanly, got to his fifty in the seventh over, before Elias Sunny had his number. Dunk got 53 from 22 balls, setting up the platform for a good finish in the final few overs. Darren Stevens and Phil Mustard added a few big blows after that, taking the Chargers to 124/5 from their quota of 10 overs.

In response, the rivals lost Robin Uthappa off the first delivery for a duck. Nasir Hossain and Hamilton Masakadza came and left without troubling the scorers much. By the end of the second over, the Riders had lost a fourth wicket in Junaid Siddique (0), as Imran Khan ended his first over with three wickets. Hammad Azam (26) and Simmons looked to counter-attack and put on a 33-run stand, before the former was dismissed. The Riders were five wickets down and the task on hand was getting tougher.

Simmons was the next to depart for 16 as Pragyan Ojha struck, and at the midway mark, the Riders’ score read 58/6. The Riders lost two more wickets cheaply. An attack-minded Harmeet Singh added 22 to the cause, after which Sunny (20*) and Kamrul Islam (5*) batted out the rest of the overs.

Brief scores: Texas Chargers 124/5 (Ben Dunk 53, Darren Stevens 29*; Nasir Hossain 2/17, Elias Sunny 1/9) bt Atlanta Riders 102/9 (Hammad Azam 26, Harmeet Singh 22; Imran Khan 4/2, Pragyan Ojha 1/18)