0
1
1
2
1
1
= 6
Match Details
BW vs DG, 18th T20, ETPL 2026 summary
DG
111-2(14.3)
Dublin Guardians won by 8 wickets 🏆
BW
(19.4)107-10
+
P'ship : 47(41)
Commentary
All
Highlights
Overs
W
6s
4s
Inn 1
Inn 2
Milestone
For now, this is Saptak Sanyal, signing off on behalf of my co-commentator Dev Rajawat and the scorer/analyst Manish Bishnoi. Take care. Good night.
Tomorrow, we have a double-header lined up. Rotterdam Dockers and Glasgow Cosmic will lock horns in the afternoon game (first ball at 3 PM IST and 11:30 PM Local Time). Belfast Wolves will come back again in less than 24 hours to lock horns with Amsterdam Flames (first ball at 6:45 PM IST and 3:15 PM Local Time). Do join us for the live coverage of both the games.
A change in venue has changed the fortune of Dublin Guardians. They have finally got off the mark in ETPL 2026. An utterly dominating performance from them has helped them to come out victorious against Belfast Wolves. Guardians will now look to build on this momentum, while the Wolves will try to regroup and reassess themselves before their next game tomorrow.
Ravichandran Ashwin (Dublin Guardians Captain): "(You said that you were not that far away and today it came right. What worked well for you?) Firstly, I am pleasantly surprised to be here. I was fighting with Maxi for a quick flashy interview. It became a habit. Losing can also be habit like winning is. But today we played our first home game in front of the Malahide crowd. We wanted to do this. I thought we are pretty good with our links today. We hit the stumps a lot more, we tried to make those small improvements every single game. We went away from those stumps a lot. Sometimes keeping it to the basics is what you need.
(On David Willey's presence. Did it give an extra dimension?) 100%. We had Omarzai who was supposed to come in, but could not because of some visa issues. David's experience with the new ball helps, also with the batting upfront. He has played a lot of cricket and a very good ally for bowlers standing at mid-off and mid-on. This is what which I would need as a captain. Hopefully we can climb on from here.
(Pick up the points that made you believe that a win was not far away) No it was not. Like I said we lose because of not defining the process. We say we will stick to the process, but can not define it. We do firmly believe that a good unit, sticking to one another is a very powerful combination. We made some effort to do this. In T20 cricket, it is easy to get swayed by the results. We have not had a great competition until now, but that does not mean that there is not enough skill there. So you back them and they can come through and we will have a very good tournament.
(Dublin Guardians are stepping towards the right direction?) It is. We in fact had a guardian of the day after we lost a game, but today is one of those days where we will have a winning guardian. It is a nice dressing room, looking forward to share some good vibes. We had some disappointing days, but today is a good one."
(On David Willey's presence. Did it give an extra dimension?) 100%. We had Omarzai who was supposed to come in, but could not because of some visa issues. David's experience with the new ball helps, also with the batting upfront. He has played a lot of cricket and a very good ally for bowlers standing at mid-off and mid-on. This is what which I would need as a captain. Hopefully we can climb on from here.
(Pick up the points that made you believe that a win was not far away) No it was not. Like I said we lose because of not defining the process. We say we will stick to the process, but can not define it. We do firmly believe that a good unit, sticking to one another is a very powerful combination. We made some effort to do this. In T20 cricket, it is easy to get swayed by the results. We have not had a great competition until now, but that does not mean that there is not enough skill there. So you back them and they can come through and we will have a very good tournament.
(Dublin Guardians are stepping towards the right direction?) It is. We in fact had a guardian of the day after we lost a game, but today is one of those days where we will have a winning guardian. It is a nice dressing room, looking forward to share some good vibes. We had some disappointing days, but today is a good one."
Craig Young (Player of the Match): (On assessing the pitch and the conditions) "No, I never thought for myself, but definitely looking at it, it looked a little bit in there for our seamers. But yeah, for it to come out the way it did, I wouldn’t have guessed it, but it was just great that it did, and it’s great to get our first win on the board.
(On whether the pitch suited his bowling) Probably, I would say, it would suit me a little bit. You can have a look around there and see how it gets in a moment. That's the way T20 goes. I mean, you can rock up with the pitches after your Lord’s, but it doesn’t really come off for you sometimes. But again, you just put the ball in the right area and hope the rest goes for you.
(On the motivation of playing against fellow Irish players) Well, we play against each other a lot over the summer, but again, I’ve sort of never really played a T20 game or anything of this sort of magnitude before against them. So, no. It’s definitely nice to get playing against them anytime, but again, I think this occasion, for what it is, is brilliant.
(On his five-wicket haul and his approach in T20 cricket) Not necessarily. You’re more trying to just dry the runs up a little bit, and there’s going to be a pressure release at some stage, and you just hope that you’re on the right side of that and it’s not sailing over the boundary. It’s just such fine margins in T20 cricket. It could have happened a few times out today.
(On the feeling after getting the team's first win) About the same. We’ve actually been in a really good spot. I know results haven’t gone our way, but as a team we’ve stuck together, and we’re a tight-knit unit, and I think that’s just sort of our reward there for sticking together and keeping going."
(On whether the pitch suited his bowling) Probably, I would say, it would suit me a little bit. You can have a look around there and see how it gets in a moment. That's the way T20 goes. I mean, you can rock up with the pitches after your Lord’s, but it doesn’t really come off for you sometimes. But again, you just put the ball in the right area and hope the rest goes for you.
(On the motivation of playing against fellow Irish players) Well, we play against each other a lot over the summer, but again, I’ve sort of never really played a T20 game or anything of this sort of magnitude before against them. So, no. It’s definitely nice to get playing against them anytime, but again, I think this occasion, for what it is, is brilliant.
(On his five-wicket haul and his approach in T20 cricket) Not necessarily. You’re more trying to just dry the runs up a little bit, and there’s going to be a pressure release at some stage, and you just hope that you’re on the right side of that and it’s not sailing over the boundary. It’s just such fine margins in T20 cricket. It could have happened a few times out today.
(On the feeling after getting the team's first win) About the same. We’ve actually been in a really good spot. I know results haven’t gone our way, but as a team we’ve stuck together, and we’re a tight-knit unit, and I think that’s just sort of our reward there for sticking together and keeping going."
PLAYER OF THE MATCH: CRAIG YOUNG
Time for the Post-Match Presentations...
Glenn Maxwell (Belfast Wolves Captain): (On the challenge of batting on the pitch) "Yeah, probably by the time we worked out how difficult the wicket was, we had probably lost too many wickets. There was a fair bit of inconsistent bounce, but credit to them - they [Guardians] hit their lengths and were able to force some bad shots from us.
(On whether it was the toughest pitch of the tournament) Yeah, I think so. It would have been a nice toss to win, but unfortunately we were sent in. As I said, we didn't adapt to the conditions quickly enough, and the Guardians did.
(On the impact of the defeat and the upcoming schedule) Yeah, it probably puts us a little bit closer to Edinburgh, but we've got three opportunities in the next four days to turn that around. It's going to be a hectic schedule. We're going to have to be pretty clever with the way we use our list. It's going to put us under a fair bit of strain, and hopefully we can get a bit of momentum on this ground.
(On managing the congested schedule) Well, it feels like we've got good depth in our list. We've got guys that haven't played a game, which we think we can get into the tournament and play a role for us. So, we might see a few new names over the next few days."
(On whether it was the toughest pitch of the tournament) Yeah, I think so. It would have been a nice toss to win, but unfortunately we were sent in. As I said, we didn't adapt to the conditions quickly enough, and the Guardians did.
(On the impact of the defeat and the upcoming schedule) Yeah, it probably puts us a little bit closer to Edinburgh, but we've got three opportunities in the next four days to turn that around. It's going to be a hectic schedule. We're going to have to be pretty clever with the way we use our list. It's going to put us under a fair bit of strain, and hopefully we can get a bit of momentum on this ground.
(On managing the congested schedule) Well, it feels like we've got good depth in our list. We've got guys that haven't played a game, which we think we can get into the tournament and play a role for us. So, we might see a few new names over the next few days."
9:32 PM IST and 6:02 PM Local Time: The wait for a victory has come to an end for the Dublin Guardians. Voorburg-leg of this edition's ETPL was a nightmare for them. But the venue change has brought fortune for them as they start the Malahide-leg with a thumping victory over the Belfast Wolves. Victory tastes sweeter if it comes on the back of five defeats on the trot. Ravichandran Ashwin and his men will surely sleep better tonight.
Ashwin won the toss and chose to bowl first. Matt Hollard gave the Guardians the early success by removing Devon Conway (5). Mark Chapman hit two boundaries on his way to score 10 off 11, but became Craig Young's victim. Lorcan Tucker, who came to bat on the back of a hat-trick of golden ducks, got off the mark with a boundary, but Josh Little cut his (11) stay short. Paul Stirling was fighting it out for the Wolves, but the 10th over of their innings turned the game on it's head.
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