(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) The burly leg-spinner arrived at the crease at the fall of the sixth wicket to score 17 not out from just five deliveries at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Councils Nursery Oval-2.
Dubai: The Cambridge High School stayed on course of a fourth successive UAE Exchange Centre Abu Dhabi inter-school under 19 title after a tense semifinal victory over newcomers New Indian Model School Al Ain.
Umar Bilal looks behind to see the bails fly after failing to connect a slog-shot off a delivery from Akash Krishnakumar. — Supplied photo
The champions were looking down the barrel until Maninderjeet Singh smashed a six over long off followed by a boundary off a top edge to the third man fence to win by three wickets with three balls to spare.
The burly leg-spinner arrived at the crease at the fall of the sixth wicket to score 17 not out from just five deliveries at the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council’s Nursery Oval-2.
Cambridge were struggling at 47 for three half way through their overs before Sachin Jha (37 off 34 balls) who played an anchor role and Yodhin Punja (13 off 16) rebuilt the inning with a 37-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Yet they were left with a huge task to score 46 off 30 balls and Singh’s power-hitting combined with useful contributions from Bikramjeet Singh (7 off 8) and Sahal Baji (7 not out off 4) saw them through at the end.
Osama Hassan top scored for NIMS Al Ain withh 66 highlighted with nine fours and two sixes for his team to recover from 51 for five to put up 130 for seven. Cambridge will meet Abu Dhabi Indian School in Sunday’s final at the Sheikh Zayed stadium.
ADIS put an end to Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Pakistan School’s hopes of reaching a third successive final with a 19-run triumph.
Jonathan Figy (43) and Mohammed Israfil (23) gave ADIS a sound start.
However they slumped to 95 for 6 in the 15th over before Abhishek Prakash (16 not out off 15) and Saud Arif (run-a-ball 13) added 28 valuable runs for them to close the inning at 136 for eight.
Anson Quadros provided an early breakthrough when he had the Pakistan School opener Waqas Ahmed (2) trapped in front in the first over but a 52-run stand in 33 balls between Simon Charles (28) and Umar Bilal (22) put them in command.
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