Heena Hotchandani and Kavisha Kumari delivered when it really mattered as Desert Cubs Cricket Academy were crowned champions of the UAE National Women’s Tournament after a 63-run victory against GM Academy.
The bowlers were lethal with the ball as vice-captain Hotchandani (4-13) and Kumari (3-14) claimed seven wickets as GM Academy were all out for 94 in their reply to chasing 158 in the 30-over match.
That total was largely thanks to Chamani Seneviratne, who top-scored with 47 runs from 36 deliveries, while there were valuable contributions from Kumari (25) and skipper Oza (27), who elected to bat first after winning the toss.
For GM, their batswomen struggled at the crease with only Subha Srinivasan (21), Aysha Noushad (15) and Chaya Mughal (14) reaching double figures at Sharjah English School.
The result capped a remarkable campaign for Desert Cubs, who won all seven of their matches in the three-team competition, which also included G-Force. And UAE international Oza had nothing but praise for her team-mates.
“Winning any tournament is a great feeling, but winning all of our matches and staying unbeaten throughout is something very special, especially at such a big stage in women’s domestic cricket,” said Oza, who finished as the top run-scorer with 228.
“The thing that impressed me the most was that we played as a team and whoever got an opportunity to play did justice to their role in the team.”
Super Subha: Srinivasan.
The Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) will now identify the best pool of players for a summer training camp ahead of the UAE’s 2018 World Cup qualifiers later this year.
Hoping their efforts are recognised are Priyanjali Jain (212) and Srinivasan (178), who impressed with the bat.
Srinivasan also showed why she claimed the MVP after the all-rounder topped the bowling charts with nine wickets, ahead of Kumari (8) and Hotchandani (7).
Humaira Tasneem, who skippered GM Academy, insists the tournament was a great learning curve. “There were three strong teams competing and every team played at least six matches which gave us good exposure and match practice,” she said.
“It was exciting for our team to qualify as we have a wide cross section of ages, and through each game our confidence grew and we have seen definite improvement.
“We were exposed to three different pitches and learnt how to adapt and make the best of the pitches.”
