I've also abandoned the statistics spreadsheet simply because there wasn't a viable method to enter data for it without taking all of my free time in doing so. So instead, let's look at Week 5's matches for the Western Division!
Portland vs San Francisco
Preview: POR are at the bottom of the division,while SF are on top, but this is still a fairly even matchup.
Josh Inglis was tied down early by the opening tandem of Bhuvi Kumar and Kasun Rajitha. But the later bowlers had a worse time of things, with the 11 overs bowled by Hasaranga, Gleeson and Pretorius going at roughly 9.5 RPO - thanks to an electric partnership between Dawid Malan and Glenn Maxwell.
After Chris Lynn was quickly run out in an athletic fielding effort from Travis Head at cover, Martin Guptill asserted his authority on the game - his 63 put San Fran into an almost un-losable position, which Lewis Gregory brought home. A third bad day in a row for Dale Steyn...
MOTM: Martin Guptill
Las Vegas vs San Diego
Preview: Vegas' bowling and Chris Gayle led them to a win over San Fran last time out, and to keep pace with the Dolphins, they need more from the rest of their batting card. They face the 2-and-2 San Diego team who won a crazy yet comfortable game against LA in Week 4.
Lineup changes: After Ishan Kishan's near choke last week, Vegas move Ross Taylor to his #3 spot.
A slowish start was surprisingly enlightened by a run-out. When Aiden Markram was dismissed, it led to a partnership that rattled along at close to ten an over for most of the inning between Joe Clarke and Moises Henriques. Sam Curran was expensive but got Henriques and Ben Cutting in the final over.
Vegas again had middle order issues - Jason Behrendorff cracked the game open in his final over after bowling a priorly economical spell, and Peter Siddle then tore the rest of the order to shreds. San Diego did have some concerns, with Shakib bowling a horrible spell, but they moved to a positive win-loss ration.
MOTM: Peter Siddle
Seattle vs Los Angeles
Preview: LA lost the aforementioned game against SD last week, their third loss of four, while Seattle levelled their record by dominating Portland thanks to Joe Burns, Naseem Shah and Sandeep Lamichhane.
Lineup Changes: One for each team. Seattle rest Daryn Dupavillon for Marco Jansen, while Haider Ali is dropped for Hilton Cartwright by the Stallions.
Cartwright's introduction was a failure, but his opening partners went mad - until the dying, when he was spun out by Sandeep, Vijay Shankar had 80 at a strike rate of 200. Faraan Behardien and Dhananjaya kept it up to finish the inning at a rate of over 10.
Seattle went for it, and Prithvi Shaw almost matched Vijay Shankar punch for punch. But Asitha and Joe Burns struggled at the other end, and the remainder of the lineup couldn't hit double figures, and it was ended by an ignonimous run out. LA moved off last place with a thumping win, highlighted by Shankar, Faraan, Iftikhar and Worrall, while Seattle drop to fifth and may sell at the deadline.
MOTM: Vijay Shankar
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