Photo: Vitality Blast/TwitterWhile he may have gone wicketless, a blitzkrieg by Andrew Tye late in the innings elevated Gloucestershire from what looked like a certain loss to a tense tie against Glamorgan in their Vitality Blast match at Sophia Gardens on Thursday.
Electing to bowl first, Glamorgan scored 172/5 with Tye ending as the most economical bowler for his side with 0/26 in his quota of four overs. The score, however, proved to be a little too steep for the visitors as they found themselves at 118/6 in the 16th over.
Tye, who represents Kings XI Punjab in the VIVO Indian Premier League, came into bat with 55 needed to win off just 26 balls at 12.69 per over with all the intentions in swinging his bat about. He got off the mark immediately and hit a four off the very next ball he faced and in his entire innings, produced just one dot ball, even if that resulted a leg bye.
The turning point came in the penultimate over bowled by South African Marchant de Lange when Tye sent the first two balls to the boundary, then followed with a maximum. His prowess in running between the wickets meant he added 2 doubles and a single to complete the over, the 19th producing as many runs.
With 14 required off the final over, Benny Howell got Gloucestershire closer to the target with a maximum off the third ball before he made his exit. With five needed off the last two balls, Tye managed to run two off each of the deliveries to tie the match. A whopping 32 runs were scored in the last two overs that kept Glamorgan winless in the tournament.
From the 18 balls he faced, the Australian pacer blazed an unbeaten 38, with 3 fours and a six, in his cameo to bag the Man of the Match award.
“We had a bit of luck at the end, but we will take the tie after needing 33 from the last two overs,” Tye exclaimed.
