Kieron Pollard a batting coach at Mumbai Indians in the IPL. Apt, seeing that he is 38-plus. But a full-fledged allrounder elsewhere around the world, including at MLC, where he is such a key part of MI New York. Just how key, he showed on Friday night in Dallas, walking out with MINY’s asking rate over 12, smashing 47 not out from 22 balls, and putting his team in the MLC 2025 final at the expense of  Texas Super Kings who must have felt they were going to the title round till Pollard happened.

The chase wasn’t massive: 167. But MINY lost Quinton de Kock and Michael Bracewell for single-digit scores by the seventh over. That they had 43 on the board when Bracewell fell was mainly down to Monak Patel, but he was going at a strike rate of just around 120. Nicholas Pooran, who had walked out at the fall of Bracewell, was at just about a run a ball. And when Monank, after trying hard, fell for 49 off 39 in the 13th over, MINY had only reached 83.

They needed a shift in gears. Pollard, facing his first ball, off Noor Ahmad, saw the ball in his arc just outside the off stump and went thump – 100 metres down the ground.

Somehow, though, TSK stayed in the game. And after 16 overs, the asking rate was still 12.50. Then Zia-ul-Haq found the ball in his hand, Pollard across the pitch from him second ball onwards, and Pollard went 6, 4, 4, 2, 6. The over went for 23. That was the shift MINY needed, and TSK must have been dreading.

It was straightforward after that, till Pooran finished it off with his third six off the last ball of the 19th, walking off with 52 from 36. Pollard walked off with him, 47 off 22. And MINY were in the final, where they will play Washington Freedom, having completed a dramatic switch after finishing the league stage with three wins from ten games and having to go through the Eliminator-Qualifier 2 route, which they have now.

To be fair, the chase should have been more comfortable when TSK were kept to 166.  Faf du Plesis had to play pretty much a lone hand for the best part of the innings, till the 13th over, with the rest of the batting collapsing like a pack of cards. Smit Patel, Saiteja Mukkamalla, Shubham Ranjane and Marcus Stoinis all fell for single-digit scores, and du Plessis’ 42-ball 59 was the only reason TSK were in the contest.

His fall, though, gave TSK their best phase with the bat, as Donovan Ferreira  joined Akeal Hossein with the scoreboard reading 85 for 5 with just over seven overs to go. Hosein hit 55 in 32 balls, Ferreira hit 32 in 20, they put together an unbroken stand of 81 in 45 balls, and gave TSK hope. Pollard, in the main, and Pooran dashed it 19 overs later.

Brief scores:
MI New York 172 for 3 in 19 overs  (Nicholas Pooran 52*, Monank Patel 49, Kieron Pollard 47*, Akeal Hosein 1-11, Zia ul Haq 1-46, Noor Ahmad 1-29) beat  Texas Super Kings 166 for 5 in 20 overs (Faf Du Plessis 59, Akeal Hosein 55*, Donovan Ferreira 32*; Tristan  Luus 3-35, Rushil Ugarkar 2-31) by seven wickets

[Cricinfo]

Italy have secured qualification for the 2026 men’s T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka, despite losing to Netherlands at The Hague. Next year’s tournament will mark Italy’s first appearance at a cricket World Cup. Netherlands also qualified for the event after comfortably chasing 135.

Scotland, who have featured in the last four editions of the T20 World Cup, were knocked out after suffering a last ball defeat against Jersey earlier in the day. Despite pulling off a one-wicket heist, Jersey were also knocked out after Netherlands beat Italy. Both Italy and Jersey were level with five points, but Italy ended up progressing to the 2026 T20 World Cup, by virtue of a superior net run rate.

Italy only needed to avoid a heavy defeat, which they did by stretching Netherlands’ chase to 16.2 overs. They confirmed their place in next year’s T20 World Cup in the 15th over before Netherlands completed their job and joined Italy in the event.

After having opted to bat, Italy lost both their openers, Justin Mosca and Emilio Gay, within three overs and when their captain Joe Burns (22) fell in the seventh over, they were 41 for 3. Wicketkeeper-batter Marcus Campopiano also fell cheaply, leaving Italy at 46 for 4 in the ninth over. Ben Manenti then rallied along with the lower order to help Italy post a relatively competitive 134 for 7. Left-arm spinner Roleof van der Merwe was the pick of the bowlers for Netherlands, returning 3 for 15 in four overs, including the key wicket of Burns.

Manenti found support from No. 7 Grant Stewart (25 off 16) and No. 8 Anthony Mosca (13* off 14). Italy took 33 off the last three overs, including 15 off the penultimate over bowled by allrounder Bas de Leede.

Netherlands then dashed out of the blocks, hitting 66 for no loss in the powerplay in their chase. Max O’Dowd and Michael Levitt extended their opening stand to 71 before Crishan Kalugamage struck in the eighth over to dismiss Levitt for 34 off 25 balls, an innings which included five fours and a six. O’Dowd and captain Scott Edwards then put on an unbroken 64-run partnership for the second wicket to see Netherlands home.

Kalugamage finished with figures of 1 for 25 in his four overs and though Harry Manetti  didn’t strike on the day, he ended the Europe regional final as its top wicket taker. He took eight wickets at an average of 9.62 and economy rate of 7.70 in three matches.

As for Jersey, they sealed their first-ever win against Scotland, but their joy was short-lived with the result of the Italy-Netherlands fixture not going in their favour. In pursuit of 134, Jersey were cruising at 81 for 1 in the 12th over, but the wicket of Nick Greenwood triggered a collapse. Jersey lost 8 for 48 and were left needing five off four balls. Captain Charles Perchard and No. 11 Jake Dunford picked off 2,1,1,1 to keep Jersey in the race before Netherlands and Italy qualified at their expense.

Fifteen teams have qualified for the men’s T20 World Cup 2026 so far. The East-Asia Pacific qualifier will see three more sides qualify from the competition while two further teams will make it through from the Africa qualifier.

[Cricinfo]