Sherwood Academy Win Under-14 Crown

ABU DHABI - Sherwood Academy – the team that came best prepared - deservingly won the Lifebuoy inaugural Abu Dhabi inter-school Under 14 cricket tournament defeating Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Pakistan School in the final at the Shaikh Zayed Stadium on Friday.

Published: Sun 14 Feb 2010, 11:35 PM

Last updated: Mon 6 Apr 2015, 2:31 AM

The Man of the Match Muneeb Rashid gave them the break by claiming two wickets in the very first over of the match and finish by claiming three of the four wickets to fall to a bowler. His three for 21 from four overs and four run outs restricted Pakistan School to 139 for eight.

Bikramjeet Singh (35 not out) and Sahel Baji (34 not out) then saw them through for the loss of the two openers Shaun Shibu (20) and Mohammed Riyan (9) with 6.4 overs to spare.

“We prepared from the time we came to know there was an inter-school tournament,” said Sherwood’s master-in-charge Steven Rajesh. “We practiced and played a lot of warm up matches and it was good reward for the hard work from the boys.”

Singh scored 343 runs in six matches and took three wickets to take the Most Valuable Player’s award and Anirudh Ravichandran, the captain of Our Own English High School took the Best Batsman’s award and the captain of Pakistan School Tauqeer Saeed the Best Bowler.

The one-drop Usman Ahmed (45) and Mohammed Umar (32) were the main two batsmen to contribute to the Pakistan School’s total.

The U14 tournament drew eight schools and was organised by the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council under the aegis of the Emirates cricket Board and co-sponsored by UAE Exchange Centre.

Brief scores: Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Pakistan School 139 for 8 in 25 overs (Usman Ahmed 45, Mohammed Umar 32, Muneeb Rashid 3-21). Sherwood Academy 143 for 2 in 18.2 overs (Shaun Shibu 20, Bikramjeet Singh 35, Sahel Baji 34 not out).