Adam Zampa has shown his wily best at Old Trafford, dismissing Jos Buttler and Phil Salt as the pair threatened to break all manner of records, but his smarts were in vain as Welsh Fire were well beaten by Manchester Originals.
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Instead it was his Aussie compatriot, Sean Abbott, who ended Tuesday night all smiles with a stunning return of 4-8 off 15 balls, including that of Zampa, as the hosts won by 47 runs.
"I'm delighted for him (Abbott), he is a great guy," Buttler, captain of the Originals and England's white-ball teams, said.
"He'll admit he hasn't quite bowled at his best so far so but he showed all his experience. He's such a fine player in the Big Bash and on the fringes of the Australian squad, so to really lead from the front is just what we needed from him."
Buttler and Salt had set off like meteors, Salt smashing Jake Ball for three successive sixes as the pair averaged two runs a ball.
But Zampa brought a halt to the fun, bowling Salt for 38 off 22 balls then yorking Buttler for 29 off 17.
The leggie finished with 2-17 off his 20 balls as the Originals finished on 9-149.
It looked a feasible target against a side short of confidence after losing three successive matches.
But Welsh Fire had not won either and Abbott made immediate inroads, brilliantly catching Joe Clarke in the deep off debutant Stanley then having Tom Banton caught and bowled off a leading edge.
Though Ben Duckett (well caught by Abbott for 25 off 15) and Dwaine Pretorius (29 off 14) had a go, Fire's innings never caught light.
Abbott, unusually for a quick, also claimed a stumping. David Payne had his stumps thrown down by keeper Salt, who was standing back, as he dallied in grounding his bat back in his crease.
That summed up an innings in which they were bowled out for 102 with 11 balls still to use.
"It's not the start to the season we wanted but we came out and executed today and backed up the batters," Abbott said.
"Personally I haven't really set the tone as I should have been doing [in the previous matches] but Mitchell Stanley did that for us tonight and everyone backed it up."
Australian Associated Press
