INTER ACADEMY: G Force Cricket Academy, Emirates Cricket Training – Dubai, Desert Cubs Cricket Academy and Young Talents Cricket Academy qualified for the semi-finals of the Cricket for care Under-15 Inter Academy tournament with Desert Cubs collecting two points from their outing against YTCA in the only match played in Dubai.
Young Talent batted first and put up 114 runs on the board as only Shiv Mehra stood like a rock as wickets tumbled around him to play a fighting knock of 25 runs in 31 balls. Desert Cub attack was spot on as Aaron Joseph bagged three wickets for 20 runs and Lahiru Hettiartchy and Kulith Rabel bagged two each.
Renaldi Dias then gave Desert Cubs a flying start making 30 runs in 29 balls with three fours. YTCA bowlers Arshaq and Mehul did send some shivers down Desert Cub camp picking up a couple of wickets each but Zafri Zafardeen 16, Mobeen Ahmed 16, and Waruna Perera with 29 runs in 24 balls with two fours saw them edge past the target with more than an over to spare.
Desert Cubs with eight points and ECT Dubai with six points qualify for the semi-final from group ‘A’ while Desert Cubs with eight points and Young Talents with 4 points qualify from ‘B’ group. The semi-finals and finals will be played on grass wickets shortly.
SINDHI CRICKET LEAGUE: Merlin-V-Sindhi’s edged out M-Sindhis by 22 runs in the Sindhi Premier cricket league organised by the Dubai Cricket Council at the Sevens cricket grounds in Dubai.
V Sindhi’s openers Anand Shenoy and Ashish Bhandari putting on 92 runs for the first wicket. Anand was the first to go after making 25 runs but Ashish continued to torment the M Sindhi attack hitting three huge sixes and nine boundaries making 66 in his 30 ball knock.
Shiva Pagarani struck three huge sixes and two fours to add an unbeaten 50 in 29 balls and help his team post 229 runs in 25 overs. Deepak Odhrani and Abhay Singh were the pick of the bowling with two and three wickets each.
M-Sindhis were also given a decent start by Paresh Amarnani and Manish Hirani but Pagrani and Deepak Bhojwani picked up five wickets between themselves to restrict M-Sindhis to 207.
VETERANS: Qazi Ayub and Mohammed Hyder dazzled with the bat andball to lead Forty’s Cricket Club UAE to a well deserved 36-run win over Forty’s Club from UK who also go by the name XL Club – Easter County in a friendly match played between the two sides t at the ICC Global Cricket academy.
Recently launched Forty’s Club UAE, playing their first 35 overs game against an international side, fared disastrously as they lost wickets in a heap on a slow and difficult track.
Hyder and Ayub played the rescue act putting on 68 runs for the eighth wicket with Qazi Ayub making 47 in 49 balls with three fours and two sixes while Hyder was quicker in his essay making 47 runs in 37 balls with seven boundaries to see Forty’s UAE make 173 runs in their 35 overs. Phil Deakin was the pick of the visitor’s bowling attack bagging four wickets for fourteen runs while Nigel Gadsby had two for 25 runs.
XL Club fund the going tough as sharp fielding by the UAE seniors helped bowl them out for 137.
