Dubai. Septuagenarian Freddy Sidhwa produced eight wickets from two matches including a five-wicket spell to help Ocean Fair Sports Club lift the Al Tahir Spicy Cup at the Dubai Investment Park ground.
Inspiring youngsters, Sidhwa, who never allows any week to pass without playing in a tournament, got his reward for his accurate left-arm spin.
In the semi-final, Sidhwa wrecked MPX Challengers through a spell of five wickets for just eight runs. His spell resulted in MPX being bowled out for 98 runs in 16.4 overs after Ocean Fair had posted 151 for eight in 20 overs.
In the final, Sidhwa once again produced a tight spell to defeat Power House by 81 runs. After Ocean Fair had posted 184 for 9, Power House were rendered powerless for the challenge by Sidhwa who took three wickets for 24 runs backed by Waqas Ahmad, who took five wickets for nine runs. In fact, Waqas’s five wicket spell was inspired by his captain Sidhwa’s five-wicket spell in the semi-final.
Sidhwa was rightly adjudged as the best bowler of the tournament and received the winners’ trophy as captain and his best bowler award from G. Jayan of Al Tahir Spicy.
In the Dubai Cricket Council’s Mammoths Cricket League at the Sevens ground, Vinay Tolani starred with ball and bat in Zabeel Mammoth’s four-wicket win over bottom-placed Shindagha Mammoths.
Brief scores:
Final: Ocean Fair beat Power House by 81 runs. Ocean Fair Sports Club, 184 for 9 in 20 overs. (Rizwan Khan 39; Zawar Ahmed 50, Mohammed Asif 24 n.o. Zaheer Ahmad 4 for 28, Farukh Akhtar 2 for 34). Power House 104 in 15 overs. (Nabil Iqbal 27, Freddy Sidhwa 3 for 24, Waqas Ahmed 5 for 9). Man of the match Waqas Ahmed.
Semi-final: Ocean Fair Sports Club bt MPX Challengers by 53 runs. Ocean Fair Sports Club, 151/8 in 20 overs. (M. Rizwan 46, S. Fazil 21, Hassnain Raza 20 n.o, Vishnu Kumar 2 for 19, Daryll 2 for 16) MPX Challengers 98 in 16.4 overs. (Freddy Sidhwa 5 for 8, Farhan Nawaz 2 for 22, Farhad Khan 3 for 20). Man of the match: Freddy Sidhwa
Individual awards: Best bowler: Freddy Sidhwa, best batsman: Hassnain Raza, man of the tournament: Zaheer Ahmad.
Mammoths league: Jumeirah Mammoths bt Nad Al Sheba Mammoths by 7 wkts. NAS 182 for 6 in 25 overs (Qais Farooq 41, Abid Chaudhury 32, Nalin Khaitan 24, Naeem Mohammed 21, Fawad Gafoor 21 n.o.; Ambey Parwatkar 2 for 45) Jumeirah 185 for 3 in 24.2 overs (Shadab Khan 64, Yuvraj Kurup 45, Vijay Mehra 39; Adnan Khan 2 for 28). Man of the match: Shadab Khan.
Zabeel Mammoths bt Shindagha Mammoths by four wickets. Shindagha 105 in 21.4 overs (Lucky Abbas 22; Ben Thakkar 3 for 26, Vinay Tolani 2 for 11) Zabeel 107 for 6 in 21.2 overs (Vinay Tolani 27 n.o., Usman Kutty 24 n.o.; Devrajan Srinivasan 2 for 26, Dheeraj Sharma 2 for 23). Man of the match: Vinay Tolani.
