Dubai: The Winchester School, Jebel Ali stamped their authority as one of the strongest and most consistent teams in inter-schools girls cricket by lifting the Maxtalent Global Sports (MGS) Vision Cup in the Under-17 and Under-13 categories.
This tournament, held under the aegis of Sharjah Cricket Council, was contested by 38 teams from five emirates with 532 players aged between 11-17 taking part in the competition.
The Winchester School has a reputation of encouraging girls’ cricket over the years and they produced top class performances again. Last year, the school’s under-17 girls won this tournament’s ninth edition defeating GEMS Modern Academy with one over to spare. It was sweet revenge for Winchester because they had lost to Modern Academy in the final of the 2014 edition.
In this year’s edition, the Winchester School’s Under-17 girls were unstoppable. In the final, they trounced Our Own English High School, Sharjah by 111 runs. Inspired by the performance of their seniors, the Under-13 girls too emerged champions, defeating GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai by eight wickets.
The star performer in both the categories was 11-year-old Namita D’Souza. She cracked a brilliant 113 runs in her school’s Under-17 team’s final and also top scored with 33 runs in her Under-13 team’s title triumph.
Winchester owe their Under-17 victory to the early dismissal of Our Own School’s captain and UAE player Heena Harish, who had hit an unbeaten 177 runs in the semi-finals against Gulf Indian High School. Heena got out in the second over after she had hit a quick 15 runs in five balls.
Our Own, who were chasing Winchester’s total of 222 for 4, could muster only 111 for 4 in the 15 over contest.
In the Under-13 final, GEMS Academy’s K. Teertha hit 54 runs off 25 balls but her knock went in vain. Chasing GEMS’s total of 97 for 4, Winchester won in 10.5 overs through Namita’s knock of 33 runs off 15 balls. The trophies and individual awards were presented by Andrew Russell, the Emirates Cricket Board Development Manager. Brief scores:
Under-17 final: The Winchester School, Jebel Ali bt Our Own English High School, Sharjah by 111 runs. The Winchester School 222 for 4 in 15 overs (Namita D’Souza 113, Alia Packeerally 45) Our Own English High School 111 for 4 in 15 overs) (Shraddha 2 for 12). Player of the match- Namita D’Souza.
Under-13 final: The Winchester School, Jebel Ali bt GEMS Modern Academy, Dubai by 8 wkts. GEMS Modern Academy 97 for 4 in 15 overs) (K. Teertha 54, Nandana 2 for 16) The Winchester School 98 for 2 in 10.2 Overs) (Namita D’souza 33, S. Mandisa 2 for 17) Player of the match- K. Teertha.
