Abu Dhabi: Cambridge High School lived up to their favourites tag in the UAE Exchange Centre Abu Dhabi inter-school under-19 cricket tournament by extending their title streak to four-in-a-row. They defeated Abu Dhabi Indian School by 52 runs in the final at the Shaikh Zayed Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Mohammed Riyan, the UAE U-19 international, hit a breezy 52 and shared a 104-run stand in 12 overs for the opening wicket with Justin D’Souza for Cambridge to help post 160 for five. ADIS, in reply, were bowled out for 108 in 18.2 overs.
Riyan was the more adventurous of the two. The diminutive opener smashed eight boundaries during his 39-ball stay at the crease. He was well-supported by D’Souza who made 48 off 43 with five fours.
ADIS in reply were reduced to 29 for three in five overs before Abhishek Prakash, who hit a run-a-ball 23 and the opener Mohammed Israfil (21) tried to revive their innings with a 31-run stand for the fifth wicket.
However, both fell to spinners Ashish Menon and Moiz Qazi in successive overs that left them 77 for six and the game as good as over.
Earlier, Bikramjeet Singh removed the ADIS opener Jonathan Figy (7) when the score was 20 and Punja struck twice nine runs later to put Cambridge in a strong position.
Sudhir Shetty, Chief Operating Officer of the UAE Exchange Centre was guest of honour and he gave away the awards in the presence of Qazi Ayub, tournament director, Shahnawaz Hakim, operations manager of Abu Dhabi Cricket Council, and Jason King, principal of The Cambridge High School.
