David Wiese shines in Pakistan Super League knockouts

Sussex Sharks overseas player for next summer’s Vitality Blast, David Wiese, was on impressive form in the knockout stages of the 2020 Pakistan Super League, which finally took place from Saturday to Tuesday having been delayed from March by the Covid-19 pandemic.

David was back in action for the first time since this summer’s Blast when his Lahore Qalandars side took on Peshawar Zalmi in the first eliminator match on Saturday.

Used as Qalandar’s fifth bowler, the all-rounder picked up the wickets of Imam-Ul-Haq and Mohammad Imran, the first via a catch off his own bowling, as Peshawar scored 170-9 from their 20 overs.

🎯 @David_Wiese 🎯pic.twitter.com/JTFa7uccVB

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) November 15, 2020

In the Qalandars’ reply, David came to the crease at the end of the 16th over with his side five down and needing 41 for victory. A combination of intelligent running and big hitting from batting partner Mohammad Hafeez saw the equation read 12 runs required from the last ball, before David (16*) smashed consecutive sixes to see Lahore home with an over to spare.

Sealed with a SIX! 🚀@David_Wiese gets @lahoreqalandars over the line in @ThePSLT20! 👏pic.twitter.com/kUOUdPIqfp

— Sussex Cricket (@SussexCCC) November 14, 2020

That victory earned the Qalandars the right to take on Multan Sultans on Sunday for a place in Tuesday’s final. Batting first, the Qalandars innings was evenly poised at 111 for 5 when David arrived at the crease in the fifteenth over.

A blistering unbeaten innings of 48 from just 21 balls including five fours and three sixes from the South African made sure Qalandars finished with a competitive total of 182 for 6.

That proved well beyond Multan thanks in no small part to the bowling and fielding efforts of Wiese, who took a fine catch to dismiss Rilee Rossouw and picked up 3 for 27 from four overs, including the wicket of Sharks teammate Ravi Bopara. A 25-run victory booked Lahore’s spot in the final, where they would take on big-city rivals Karachi Kings.

David was unbeaten with the bat yet again in Tuesday’s final, making a run-a-ball 14 as Qalandars mustered a below-par 134-7 batting first.

He was reasonably economical with the ball during the Kings’ reply, conceding 21 runs from three overs, but the damage had been done and Karachi reached their target with five wickets and eight balls to spare to be crowned PSL champions for the first time.

David finished the tournament with 131 runs from his eight innings at average of 43.66 and a superb strike-rate of 170.12. Only two players with over 100 runs finished the tournament with higher strike-rate: Ben Cutting (189.61) and Chris Lynn (179.74).

David was also the tournament’s fifth-highest wicket-taker with 12 scalps from 30 overs at an economy rate of 8.40 runs per over.