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UAE girls storm into ACC U-19 semis

DUBAI — The UAE girls wrote a new chapter in the history of women cricket by reaching the first-ever semifinals of the ACC Under-19 Women’s Championship being played in Singapore.

Samiya and Shambhavi Gupta bowled their hearts out to help UAE register a 5-wicket victory overThailand.

The victory was enough for UAE to reach semifinals. The team collected six points and finished the Group B second behind Butan.

Girls from UAE will take on Group A winners and tournament favouritesNepal in the semifinal today.

The other semifinal will be played between Bhutan and Hong Kong.

Emirates Cricket Board Administrator Mazhar Khan said: “it is a big achievement for the UAE players to reach first-ever semifinal of a big tournament.

“We are in the top four in the tournament and girls are ready to take on Nepal today. We hope the team will reach the final because our bowling is one of he best of the tournament. It is a step in the right direction.”

Mazhar added: “The ECB is trying its best to popularise the woman cricket in the country. After this tournament,plans are ready for a Twenty20 tournament to be held in Qatar.

“Qatar will host 12 teams from Asia in March and we hope our team will perform to their potential.” The UAE team seized the early initiative against Thailand when they restrictedthem to 73 for eight in their allotted 25 overs. Samiya and Shambhavi did most ofthe damage, taking three wickets each.

Accurate Samiya conceded just eight in her three overs while Shambhavi gave away only 10 in her spell. Monique D’Souza and Sneha Sankar also kept up the pressure on a struggling Thailand side, picking up one wicket each.

Sitanant Talsook (16) and Areeya Priyakhunakorn (12) were the only two batters who could reach the double-figure mark for the Thais.

In reply, the UAEstarted the chase confidently as Aashna Khemani (15 off 16 balls with one four and one six) and Sneha Sankar (11 off 16 balls)provided a solid 28-run stand in just 27 balls.

Girls from UAE also faced some hiccups as they kept losing wickets on regular intervals after thedeparture of their openers.

In the end Spoorthy Prakash played a responsible knock to take UAE to the target. She remained unbeaten on 10 runs. UAE reched the target in 17^th over to qualify for the semifinals.

Brief scores: UAE beat Thailand by five wickets: Thailand 73 for eight in 25 overs (Sitanant Talsook 16, Areeya Priyakhunakorn 12; Samiya 3-8, Shambhavi 3-10, Monique D’Souza 1-13, Sneha Sankar 1-10) UAE 74 for five in 16.2 overs (Aashna 15, Sneha 11, Monique 8, Shambhavi 8, Spoorthy 10 not out).