Dubai: Ahaan Fernandes cracked two centuries in succession during ongoing junior cricket tournaments being held in Sharjah and Ajman.
Fernandes scored his maiden century to power Danube Kricket Spero Academy to an eight-wicket victory over Ajman Cricket Academy in the Emirates Cricket Board Under-17 inter-academy league tournament to book a semi-final spot for his team. He came up with an unbeaten 101 with his team chasing 191 for victory.
Fernandes then took his rich vein of form into the Elite School League where he scored 106 for Cambridge International School Dubai against Ryan International School and was instrumental in an 82-run win for his school. During that knock too, he dominated the bowling and accounted for the bulk of his team’s total of 188 for 1.
Fernandes’ unbeaten century against Ajman Academy came off just 65 balls with eight boundaries and five sixes. Winning the toss, Ajman Academy elected to bat first at the Battaya ground in Sharjah. They began cautiously through their captain Fahad Nawaz (48 in 46 balls) and Syed Shah (38 in 54 balls). Devnath Menon, known for his ability to produce deadly spells, put the brakes on Ajman’s batting with a three-wicket spell for 29 runs.
M Abdullah’s 50 off 30 balls with six sixes helped Ajman post a challenging total of 190 for 7 in 30 overs.
Kricket’s Spero began aggressively, scoring 26 in just two overs. The introduction of spin and some good bowling changes led by Ajman captain Fahad Nawaz put brakes on the scoring and kept Kricket’s Spero in check at 79 for 2 in 15.3 overs.
Varun Nayanar, who had captained the Kerala U-16 state team, hit a patient 36 of 45 balls before Fernandes, who joined Varun at the fall of the first wicket at 37 runs, turned the complexion of the game from the 16th over onwards as he raced to his century.
Fernandes was well supported by Aditya Prakashan (34n.o in 30 balls). The pair put on an unbeaten 114 runs in 10.2 overs for the third wicket to take Kricket’s Spero to victory with 3.5 overs to spare.
Brief scores:
Ajman Cricket Academy: 190 for 7 in 30 overs. (Fahad Nawaz: 48, Syed Haider Shah 38, Abdullah 50, Aditya Mangalani 24, Devnath Menon 3 for 29) Kricket Spero Academy: 193 for 2 in 26.5 overs (Varun Nayanar 36, Ahaan Fernandes 101n.o, Aditya Prakashan 34n.o.)
