Chris Lynn hit a quickfire 69 off just 28 balls while Karthik Gattepalli bagged a three-for as Chicago CC beat Los Angeles Waves (LAW) by 15 runs in Qualifier 1 to reach the National Cricket League final on Saturday. Chasing 168 to win in Texas, LAW slumped to 152/6 in 10 overs as Gattepalli finished with impressive figures of 3/30. With a place in the final up for grabs, LAW won the toss and invited Chicago to bat. However, the decision to field first backfired. Lynn top-scored with a 28-ball 69, smashing seven fours and six sixes to lead the charge.
However, it was Chicago captain Robin Uthappa who gave his side a brisk start. The former India batter hit 31 off just 11 balls during the opening stand of 48 with Lynn.
Uthappa hit six boundaries, including three sixes before perishing in the 4th over. However, the dismissal didn’t stop Lynn from continuing the carnage in Texas.
Leonardo Julien joined Lynn in the middle and the two added 97 runs for the second wicket. Both Lynn and Julien were dismissed in the space of two runs, but the damage was already done.
Julien hit 33 off just 14 balls while Lynn ended up striking at 246.4 to finish on 69. Former Pakistan pacer Sohail Tanvir played an unbeaten cameo of 17 (4) to take Chicago’s total past the 160-run mark.
For LAW, Rishi Rames bagged a couple while Tim David and Tymal Mills also took a scalp each.
In response, LAW slumped to 40/3 inside the first three overs. Tim David (0) perished on the very first ball of the chase while Joe Burns and Stephen Eskinazi could only manage scores of 18 and 22 respectively.
Waqas Saleem (23) and Ramesh (39) brought LAW back in the contest after adding 63 for the fourth wicket. However, both were dismissed in the space of two balls.
Rumman Raees and Todd Astle hit unbeaten cameos of 26 and 19, respectively, but LAW fell short of the target by 15 runs in the end.
Gattepalli took three, while Simon Harmer and Tanvir picked two and one wickets respectively.
While Chicago entered the final of the tournament, LAW will have to play Qualifier 2 to set up a replay of Qualifier 1 in the summit clash.
Texas and Atalanta will square off in Eliminator, and the winner of the match will take on LAW for a place in the final.
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