It was a day to remember for Efians Army as both their under-13 and under-15 sides registered wins in the Sport360° National School League yesterday.
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At the Nursery Oval in Abu Dhabi, Fazal Shahid (56) and Sagar Binu (19 n.o.) excelled with the bat and ball while guiding Efians Army U13s to a 27-run victory over Merryland.
The Efians posted a competitive total of 122-3, thanks to Fazal’s 56 runs off 44 balls, which included six boundaries.
In reply, Merryland got off to a good start with openers Abdullah Arif and Usman Shakir stitching together a 27-run partnership.
Binu then struck to remove Shakir (6), and later ran through the middle-order as Merryland began losing wickets at regular intervals and were eventually bowled out for 95.
Binu finished with figures of 4-13, while Shahid’s 2-12 and his batting display earned him man of the match award.
Efians U13s are now on course to qualifying for the knockout phase with one round to go.
Shahid though said he wasn’t happy with his batting, adding: “It wasn’t a good batting performance by me. I nearly got dismissed three times. By the second over, I was getting into my rhythm and played some good shots.
“I worked hard on my bowling in recent weeks and thankfully it paid off and got us the victory.”
Later, the U15s beat Al Bateen Chargers comfortably by 10 wickets thanks to man of the match Masab Munawar’s all-round performance. Munawar claimed three wickets giving away just 10 runs as Chargers were restricted to 47-9 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Munawar (26) and Ayman Haqani (12) saw the Efians home in just in 7.3 overs.
Efians Army coach Mashraq Ahmad said: “I’m thrilled to see both my teams win and hopefully we can advance to the next stage.
“The under-13s are doing really well. They are putting in a lot of effort each week because they have the hunger to play.”
Speaking of the U15s, he said: “Today we were rewarded for our efforts with a win and hopefully we can play on further in the competition.”
In other matches, PAK Eagles and Abu Dhabi Indian School U15 sides maintained their perfect form with comprehensive wins.
The two teams will now clash next Saturday, with the winner topping the Abu Dhabi standings.
PAK Eagles beat ISC Abu Dhabi Unicorns by 97 runs to register their fourth straight win.
Mohammad Sameer claimed three wickets for the Unicorns, but PAK Eagles managed to post 159-8 in their allotted 20 overs with Khalid Mehmood top-scoring with 32 runs.
In reply, only Mustafa Hasan (11) reached double figures for Unicorns.
Ahmed K Afridi, who scored 15 runs for the Eagles, came good with the ball too with figures of 3-14 as Unicorns were all out for 62.
Meanwhile, Abhishek Prakash’s 42 helped Abu Dhabi Indian School surpass Merryland’s 107-6 in their eight wicket win.
Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi Indian School’s U13s were given a walkover as BSAK Oryxes failed to turn up for the match.