Dubai: Modern Academy recorded their second successive win in the CSS Homeward Bound Inter-School Cricket Championship with a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Dubai International Academy (DIA) Wolves at the Fair Grounds of the Dubai Men’s College.
GEMS, who had scored a thumping 93-run win over Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School a couple of days ago, were helped by some excellent bowling from man of the match Aswin Narayanan (4 for 24), Ambuj Dutta (2 for 13) and Varun Ravi (2 for 14) to enhance their chances of qualifying to the semi-finals from Group A.
The tournament which is being organised by Dubai Cricket Council (DCC) is also supported by Smart Bag, Petrotech, MyCricket.ae and AreaSqft.com.
In another match, Dubai International Academy (DIA) Wolves and The Elite English School won their inaugural matches.
Hrithik Bhatia was the star performer in DIA’s 59-run win over The English Language School in Group A. Coming in to bat with his school struggling on 54 for 6, Hrithik played a sensible, yet attacking knock to steer DIA to a defendable total of 146 which at one stage looked beyond their reach.
Bhatia’s knock came off 34 balls and had four boundaries. Only Abdullah Murad (22) was able to lend some support at the other end. Also thanks to the 34 extras conceded by English Language which only made their own task of chasing more difficult.
They also utilised 10 bowlers in a bid to restrict DIA which at one stage almost worked but Bhatia simply took away the match. He later came back to strike two crucial blows as English Language faltered in their run chase despite a superb start from opener Ammar Bajwa (30). Shahzab Naeem (17) was the other player to get into double figures but the rest just caved in to some good bowling.
In a Group B match, Elite English’s bowlers did well to bowl out The Winchester School for 113. Man of the match Naveen Shivnani (3/22), Karan Menon (2/38) and Harsith Kumar (2/11) maintained a tight leash on Winchester with only Marlon Malcolm able to break the shackles with a stubborn 22.
But that was not good enough as the rest of the batsmen collapsed like a pack of cards. It was only the 41 extras conceded by Elite which helped propel Winchester’s total.
Even that could not save them as a 56-run opening stand between Jaydeep Jain (36) and Athiq Syed (28) made it look like smooth sailing for Elite.
They should have been cruising to their destiny but all of a sudden they found themselves staring down the barrel when seven wickets fell in a heap. Fortunately for them the target they were chasing was not too stiff and they managed to sneak home in 20.2 overs.
