Dubai College Sixers are through to the quarter-finals of the under-13 Sport360 National School League after arguably the tournament’s most thrilling victory.

The Sixers beat Indian High School Knights by four wickets with three balls to spare in a pulsating match that had not promised as much after the Knights posted only 88 runs in their 15 overs.

– World Cup winning coach Gary Kirsten praises NSL

The win seemed inevitable but Sixers’ coach Clint Berkenshaw could be heard preaching the word “patience” to his team throughout the match, and in the end they needed plenty of it.

Winning the toss, Dubai College put the Knights in to bat and they got off to a good start with Ramprajwal Vempatti and Kushal Chiluka putting on a 50-run partnership.

Both scored 16 but after they departed there was little in the way of support as the IHS innings tailed away to 88-6, with the Sixers gifting the Knights 39 in extras. And it was the figure at the bottom of the scorecard that was to prove pivotal to the result of the game.

Pranav Nanda (3-14) and Veer Vohra (2-20) were the bowlers of significance for DC, as they accounted for the wickets of both IHS openers.

Tight bowling and good fielding from the Knights ensured any thoughts the Sixers had of wrapping up an early victory didn’t last.

Jeremy Pontefract was the game’s top scorer with 26, having been teed up by opener Wajih Zaman (12) and No3 batsmen Ross Vintcent (11). Sixers never could cut loose though and a flurry of wickets, four in the last 19 balls to be precise, made for a tense finish.

Azzram Muhammad took two wickets in the penultimate over to confirm a grandstand finish, but four wides from Pranav Adnani in the final over gifted Sixers the win.

The loss was particularly harsh on man of the match Chiluka who returned bowling figures of 4-12, including a stunning caught and bowled of Zaman, to his earlier knock of 16.

Winchester Cobras ensured the natural order prevailed as they joined DC Sixers in the last eight of the competition also.

They controlled proceedings throughout as they recorded a 39-run victory over Deira Daredevils.

The first game of the playoff round of the competition went the way of the league form as the Cobras, runners-up to GEMS Modern Academy, joined them in the last eight.

They posted a competitive total of 125-7 after being put into bat, although coach Libson Matthews was indebted to his middle order, with Adnan Ellahi (33) and man of the match Hassan Murad (23*) transforming the Cobras’ innings from a slither into a surge.

The opening four batsmen scored just 18 runs between them before Ellahi and Murad entered the fray.

Deira have given away extras cheaply all season and there were 51 here in all, while three catches were dropped too.

Disarray also ruled in the Deira ranks as coach Jay Tostevin saw seven of his players run out as they stuttered to 86 all out.

Winchester’s feared bowling
attack hardly needed any additional help as they received it in spades from the Daredevils’ batting corps who were certainly living up to their name.

Murad helped himself to figures of 2-11 from his three overs.

The result was harsh on Deira’s standout performer Manan Shah, who had earlier taken three of the Winchester wickets plus a stunning diving catch to dismiss top scorer Ellahi.