Dubai: The Dubai Cricket Council’s CSS Homeward Bound Inter-School Cricket Championship witnessed two splendid allround performances from Saleh Shakeel of Arab Unity School and Ebrahim Rabbi of English Language School.
Shakeel bagged Man of the Match awards in two matches, steering his school to identical 112-run victories over the Winchester School and the Elite English School, respectively.
He cracked an unbeaten 55 against the Elite English School to help Arab Unity post 225 for 5 in 25 overs. He then went on to bag six wickets for just 18 runs to wreck the Elite English School batting line-up and bowl them out for a paltry 113 runs. Shakeel returned to the pavilion with figures of 5-1-18-6.
In another match against the Winchester School, Shakeel topscored with 39 runs in Arab Unity’s total of 173 for 8 and bowled out Winchester School for 61 runs, Shakeel bowled tightly to take one wicket for nine runs, backing up his colleagues Bilal Zia and Ranul Perera, who took two wickets each, and also took two catches.
Ebrahim Rabbi was the star as English Language School pulled off an exciting 36-run win over HH Shaikh Rashid Al Maktoum Pakistani School. The low-scoring match saw English Language School bowled out for 101 in 20 overs, with Rabbi topscoring with 40. Shaikh Rashid School were restricted to 65 however, with Rabbi bagging three wickets for just ten runs.
Delhi Private School’s Rahul Bhatia came up with a fine four-wicket spell as Elite English School were dismissed for a paltry 58 runs. Bhatia’s effort helped his team to a 59-run victory.
