Abu Dhabi seal inaugural UAE National U-19 cricket title

Denzil Pinto 12:53 11/04/2015
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  • Final act: Abu Dhabi players mob bowler Moaaz Qazi (c) after a crucial wicket.

    Abu Dhabi overcame a spirited Sharjah side to win the inaugural UAE National Under-19 title by 11 runs yesterday. 

    In the 50-over tournament at the Nursery Ovals in the capital, it looked like Abu Dhabi’s score of 197 was sufficient after Sharjah were reduced to 145-9 but tail-enders Mohammed Anwar and Harikrishnan Valloli frustrated the bowlers with a 41-run stand for the 10th wicket.

    With 30 balls remaining and 16 required to win, the momentum was with Sharjah especially as Abu Dhabi captain Yodhin Punja, who claimed four wickets, had bowled all of his overs. But former UAE U19 player Moaaz Qazi had Anwar caught by Punja.

    It was a game that neither team deserved to lose and their efforts will not have gone unnoticed in the Emirates Cricket Board organised-tournament which acted as a selection process for the next U19 squad.

    Punja, 15, said: “In the last couple of overs I was getting very nervous  as they batted very good.”

    He added: “I felt the 197 total was enough because we have a very good bowling attack. I always backed myself and the team to pull it off and we did it.”

    Batting first, Abu Dhabi were 74-3 but useful knocks from Jonathan Figy (47) and Qazi (41) ensured they reached 197 despite Ahsan Ali’s five-wicket haul.

    In reply, Sharjah struggled early on with Punja removing openers Ashley Lobo (0) and Ashwin Balakrishnan.

    Syed Abrar was in fine form, hitting six fours en-route to his 62-run knock. He was later dismissed by a fantastic delivery from Naseeruddin Khan.

    Meanwhile, Waruna Perera struck 105 to help Dubai beat Ajman by 167 runs to seal third place in the four-team tournament. 

    The ECB will now select a pool of 16 to 20 players for the next U19 squad. 

    National coach Aaqib Javed, who will oversee the youngsters, had nothing but praise for the concept and believes this will open new pathways for cricket in the UAE.

    “It’s definitely a good start to have this tournament in place,” said Javed, who had visited the Nursery Ovals yesterday. 

    “It’s a good beginning and from here we can look up and start organising competitions for the seniors as well as the Under-14 and Under-16s.

    “The ideas are there but it just has to be implemented. Everybody is supporting this but to run this, you need sponsorship.”

    And ECB national development manager Andy Russell echoed Javed’s sentiments. He said: “We felt for a while in order to get the best of the best we had to have a structured tournament like this and this seemed to be the best option because the players know their coaches and players from their own emirate. 

    “To see so much support is really great and the players have really embraced it.”

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