From The Pavilion

And we’re through to the World Cup final! Our 3rd ever - third time lucky?

No talk about renaming stands unless we overcome Australia tomorrow!

Great efforts lads. You've set the standard now

U20 Tour OD tour 1 gets under way on Monday. In case we haven't mentioned it we're flying high in div 1 and looking to bounce back after a gutting T20 WC final defeat to perennial bullies Australia.

Australia remain the team to beat, but we stack up fairly well against the other 4 teams competing for Division 1 glory.
Sri Lanka won the hosting rights, games taking place there with start times of 05:30 FTP time. Pitches are Crumbling, Slow and Dry


The Squad

Bats
Davos Genat (One Man Rock Band)
Abu Taymulla (Sydney Cricket Club)
Saeed Aegon (One Man Rock Band)
Rafiq Jalil (Scotland Youth)
Amir Rasil (Centre for Homeless Players )
Yousif Shadi (Emirates Academy)
Jacques Strap (Kaiapoi Bogans) - Nearly omitted just for the name

Keepers
Rafiq Awad (Emirates Academy)
Idris Aliyy (Hit & Run)

All-Rounders
Habib Salah (The Bloodhounds) FS
Hussein Saheed (Scott's Tots) M

Bowlers
Adil Ababneh (The Moose Calves) RFM
Rayhan Ghayth (Emirates Academy) RF
Sharad Iqbal (Buggles United) LWS
Misbah Issa (Birds XI) LFM
Salman Mohammad (Hassanites) RFS
Ubayd Shaheen (Abu Dhabi Academy) RFS
Malik Sulayman (TTTHG) RF


Special mention to Speedy and Moose who's commitment to the UAE cause the last few seasons has started to pay dividends for the U20 side over the last season or so

The Fixtures
All weathers are of course projected

Game 1: Kenya @ Wolf Country Humid/Crumbling
Game 2: Sri Lanka @ The Esplanade Sunny/Slow
Game 3: Australia (Boooooo) @ Achmid's Soul CG Sunny/Crumbling
Game 4: West Indies @ McIntyre Oval Sunny/Crumbling
Game 5: Netherlands @ The Lady's CG Humid/Slow

Ones to Watch

Davos Genat- The gun opener would make any team better and is off to a sparkling start for his club team, currently the top scorer in Pakistan T20 1.1, and 7th in YOD 1.1. We'll be looking to him to anchor our innings or at least set a solid foundation for those to come

Habib Salah- The Spin AR been hit hard by a form drop following his old team going bot, but has been saved by the gods (admin) and risen from the ashes to remain one of our key players. His skills bear a striking resemblance to former U20 legend Nazmi Abdullah who took tours by storm a couple of seasons ago

Rayhan Ghayth The exciting quick wont have the most help from the conditions compared to others but he has been nothing short of lethal in his U20 career so far, despite mediocre performances for his club . With the aid of his Slower Ball we'll be looking for him to do some damage if the weather stays seam friendly

Nice summary Penky.

I'm feeling good about this tour!

D. Mac Amollo (rws) 7-0-26-1, I. Aliyy 20 (25b), H. Saheed 4 (7b)
End of over 32 (2 runs) - UAE U20(131-5) RR 4.09

Need these two to stick at it, not much batting left

UAE U20 won by 69 runs

Humid and Crumbling

UAE won the toss and batted

A few 20s and 30s got us to 188 all out after 46.2 overs.

Our bowlers than got together to defend that total.
Started strong with Kenya 1/4 in thesecond over.
Wickets came in flurries with the largest Kenyan partnership 29.

Our Best:
Salman Mohammad
2/8 off 7 overs including 3 maidens after 13 with the bat.

Hussein Saheed
1/21 off 7 overs after a handy 27.

Misbah Issa
2/25 after 8.3 overs.

Rayhan Ghayth
3/34 after 10 overs.

Around the Grounds:
Australia beat West Indies by 3 wickets
Netherlands beat Sri Lanka by 13 runs

A great start to the week with the lads going to the top of the ladder with some good NRR gained from the win!

Sri Lanka is up next tomorrow.

Was an OK effort with the bat considering the tough conditions, however our bowlers were brilliant.

Long week to come still.

Yep, bowlers really stood up today
Hosts Sri Lanka next up on Sunny/Slow. not the best pitch for us and we'll be hoping the bats can do their bit in this one

A. de Valliere (lfs) 8-0-35-0, A. Rasil 47 (72b), J. Strap 55 (62b)
End of over 30 (4 runs) - UAE U20(136-1) RR 4.53

Definitely living up to their end of the bargain so far! We never seem to really push on from these situations though. I'd be surprised if we get to 250

S. Iqbal (lws) 6-1-21-3, T. Shanmuganathan 1 (3b), A. de Valliere 0 (2b)
End of over 28 (maiden) - Sri Lanka U20(118-7). 131 runs required from 22 overs. RR 4.21 RRR 5.95

Top all round performance so far. Even the fielding has been excellent

Amazing performance!

Probably need 1 more win to lock in our safety in Div 1. Australia tomorrow. Would be nice to get them back for the WC final.

Another big win means we're still on top of the table with one game to go!

Up against the dutch tomorrow, and the winner will be crowned div 1 champions.

P. Andropoff (rf) 3-0-18-0, J. Strap 32 (37b), A. Taymulla 12 (11b)
End of over 13 (7 runs) - UAE U20(70-1). 86 runs required from 37 overs. RR 5.38 RRR 2.32

We're looking good guys!
Is this our first div 1 title since season 25?

W. Malen (rws) 5-0-29-1, I. Aliyy 19 (26b), H. Saheed 11 (20b)
End of over 30 (2 runs) - UAE U20(129-4). 27 runs required from 20 overs. RR 4.30 RRR 1.35

Nearly there!