Ross Whiteley has made his Bangladesh Premier League debut and helped his franchise Sylhet Sixers to make a double winning start.
The Worcestershire all-rounder was part of the side which romped to a nine wicket win over reigning champions Dhaka Dynamites in front of a sold out crowd of 18,000 in the Sylhet International Cricket Stadium.
Then an unchanged Sylhet side followed that up with a tighter four wicket victory against Comilla Victorians at the same venue today.
In both matches Sylhet won the toss and inserting the opposition paid off.
Dhaka contained Kumar Sangakkara in their line-up and he top-scored with 32 while ex Worcestershire player Shakib Al Hasan made 23.
But Liam Plunkett (2-20), Nasir Hossain (2-21) and Abdul Hasan (2-24) restricted them to 136-7.
Whiteley did not have the opportunity to bat as Sylhet openers Upul Tharanga (69 not out) and Andre Fletcher (63) put on 125 as victory was achieved with 19 balls to spare.
The Sylhet bowlers again kept a tight rein against the Victorians despite 60 off 47 balls from Marlon Samuels with Jos Buttler dismissed for two.
They made 145-6 from their 20 overs with Taijul Islam (2-22) the most successful Sylhet bowler.
Tharanga (51) and Fletcher (36) again gave the Sixers a fine start with a stand of 73.
Whiteley had his first knock of the tournament and made 10 from 14 balls before he was run out as Sylhet won with just one ball to spare.
