Kuwait U-16 cricket team concludes ACC U 16 Elite tournament in a winning note
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
Kuwait National U 16 boy’s cricket team returned back home after a very successful tour to Qatar where they participated in the ACC U 16 Elite 2014 tournament. It was indeed a great effort from the U 16 boys as they, for the first time in the history of U 16 cricket tournament, had 6 Kuwaiti Nationals in the team. The Kuwaiti boys played the game in great spirits and passion and won the hearts of many at Qatar.
In the robin round league, Kuwait lost to Afghanistan & Hong Kong who were the ultimate teams to reach the final. As debutants to cricketing world, the young Kuwaiti nationals along with their team mates impressed the spectators and won laurels for their country by posting handsome victories over Iran & host Qatar. Amongst all the participating teams in the tournament, it was Kuwait who took the honors of scoring the highest total against Afghanistan and while bowling, Kuwait made the talented Afghanis sweat hard for their victory.
In their third match against Iran, Kuwait's batting first scored 178 runs as openers Allen Thomas & Mahadevan posted 43 runs and later taking full charge, Allen & Nomaan Budroo excelled in stroking freely to add another valuable 90 runs. Allen Thomas, possessing good technique made a well composed 66 runs while Nomaan stroked confidently to score 33.Hamoud Amanulla then struck a quick 22 runs which helped Kuwait to post a challenging 178 runs on board.
Chasing 178, the Iranian boys were no match to the talented Kuwait team and it was Vajed Bahoo who scored a painstaking 20 runs to delay the inevitable as Iran folded for 77 runs in 30 overs. Spinning the ball viciously, Allen Thomas the willy leg spinner ran through the Iranian side by capturing 3 for 12 in 4 overs. Hamoud, the left arm spinner shared the honors to bag 3 wickets while captain Nomaan bowling his off breaks to a nagging length took 2 wickets for 10 runs. Allen Thomas was rightly declared Player of the match for his all-round skills.
In the last match, host Qatar electing to bat first withered away against the lethal bowling of Abdul Haseeb and were bundled out for 46 runs. Nomaan Budroo, took three stunning catches which matched International standards and also bowled well to take 3 wickets. Hamoud & Mahadevan accounted for a wicket each. Kuwait openers Abdul Haseeb (21 runs) and Nomaan Budroo (14 runs) notched up the winning score in just 5 overs to give Kuwait a comfortable victory.
It was indeed the determination and positive attitude of the 6 Kuwaiti nationals which mattered most in the success of the tour. Nomaan Budroo excelled in leading the side from the front and shared the highest wicket takers role along with all-rounder Hamoud Ammanullah who excelled in all departments of the game. Allen Thomas, the highest run getter proved to be a successful all-rounder and the technically composed batsman just missed the best batsman of the tournament award. The tall and lanky Abdul Haseeb bowled well in the last match against Qatar and was selected as the player of the match for his brilliant bowling.
Jagat Joshi, the coach toiled hard in training the Kuwait squad and his efforts paid handsome dividends as the squad performed to their potential and played top notch cricket to be placed third in the tournament.
The Kuwait U 16 squad:
Nomaan Budroo, Hamoud Amanullah, Abdul Wahab Hasan, Yousef Hasan, Ali Hussein Mohammed Ali, Fawaz Al Mulla, Mohammed Jassem Al-Dashti, Salem Qambar, Abdul Haseeb, Arsh Barkat Ali, Kishore Salunkey, Mahadevan Ramanan, Allen Thomas, Varun Bhavsar, Shivgovind Dahima.
Coach: Jagat Joshi
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