UAE U20 - News & Discussion

[heppa]

Thanks for hanging in there Moose. It was tough to watch, but your match reports were always good

So we wrapped up the tour with another bad performance. To put into context, 115 as a winning total is lower than the lowest score ever defended in BBL and IPL history. Has never been done in real life - which says a lot about our week.

Player of the week for us was Yarden Shareef. At 19 he still has a lot of cricket for us and will be an important part of our rebuild next season.

The squad for the 3rd OD tour will be selected on Sunday with the tour beginning a week after that. We aren't losing any players so that should help us a lot in our quest of promotion. We missed out by NRR last time, so here's hoping we can make up for this week and push forward.

Apologies to all UAE fans who may have actually followed our games

[heppa]

The final U20 ODI Tour begins this Monday in Ireland.

I feel this is the strongest touring squad we have had this season - especially with fielding almost up to scratch.

Having a look at our division, we have the youngest touring squad. All 7 of our batsman will be available for the first U20 ODI tour next season as well. In saying that, I do believe we have a good chance of promotion if we get our selections right.

As always, I will be awarding membership to the player who scores the most fantasy points and contributes in this thread at some point during the week.

Hopefully we can get a few wins and make Moose's life a little easier.

[MOD-MrMoose]

Hello?
Can you hear me?

Back once again! It’s just a matter of time!

Well this one went down to the wire. The very last ball. But sadly we couldn’t hold on.

Tour Match # 1
VS
Result:
Zimbabwe win by 3 wickets

The Match in a tweet: Hakim what are you doing! Three lots of twos when your mate Kardal is stranded on 97 in the last over. Take the single bud. Take the single.

Man of the Match:
Salman Kardal

Our best:
Salman Kardal - 97 runs and not given the chance to bring up the deserved ton. Sadly didn’t produce much with the ball 0/57 off his 10.

Quinten Lynch - 3 wickets for the big skipper. (Bit of a side note once again two Eagles playing in this one - skipper of Zimbabwe Liam Ryan scoring a nice total as well).

Ameer Hakim - a solid 61 despite denying Kardal his 100.

Not often do you have the 3 best performers and lose the match.
5 drops and a missed runout sting when the result was as close as it was.

Tune in at 11.30 tomorrow as we take on the Irish and look for our first win of the week.

Trust in the process

[heppa]

3.4.B. Armanjani to White : [dropped] White hits a leading edge and there is confusion on the field as Hussein and B. Armanjani both shout "MINE". The players collide and the ball spills from Hussein's hands, with White looking on with amusement.

Starting the match the best way we know how.

[Penky]

Z. Baha (lm) 5-0-11-2, E. Magee 20 (41b), B. Burke 0 (0b)
End of over 31 (1 run) - Ireland U20(95-5) RR 3.06

4 out of 4 chances taken since that first drop and we're on top now. If we can get Magee soon I'll be almost as confident as when we posted 275 on humid/green yesterday

[Penky]

Z. Baha (lm) 8.1-0-20-5, R. McLoughlin 8 (10b)
End of over 47 (maiden) - Ireland U20(161-10) RR 3.43

7 catches to 1 drop! Fielding luck on our side there. Once again we do the business in the first innings. Can we capitalise this time?

[Penky]

E. Ryan (rf) 6-0-26-0, F. Hussein 47 (76b), J. Mahmoud 45 (77b)
End of over 25 (8 runs) - UAE U20(106-0). 56 runs required from 25 overs. RR 4.24 RRR 2.24

Moose I think this one might be more enjoyable to write up

[heppa]

Credit to the ME where it's due, we had better fielding ratings and fielding fairly well after the initial drop.

I'm just happy Moose gets a day off from the depressing stories.

[MOD-MrMoose]

WOOHOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
It’s a good day to be a UAE fan.

The lads fielded well (bar that first nightmare), bowled well to restrict Ireland to 161 and then batted convincingly.

I know they say “it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about how you play the game”. But if you play to win (and we do) then winners really do be grinners.

Tour Match # 2
VS
Result: Winner Winner chicken dinner
win by 8 wickets

The Match in a tweet: After the heartbreak last match, it sure is nice to have a convincing win!! Now let’s win the next three. In fact let’s never lose again. Thank you.

Man of the Match: Zane Baha

Our best:
Zane Baha - the senior medium is in the side to do a job and today he did it superbly. 5/20 off his 8.1 overs. Knocked over Magee and then started a procession through the tail.

Emir Mohammad - the big quick stepping up with 3/33 off his 10 overs. You love to see it.

Fahd Hussein - 55 off 92 balls including a 122 opening stand that basically iced the game.

Junaid Mahmoud - 47 off 84 and Hussein’s partner in crime. Also took a nice catch.

Bilal Armanjani - 2 for 37 off his 10 overs and a catch.

Tune in at 11.30 tomorrow as we take on Kenya. Kenya also have one win so a win tomorrow will go along way in this tour. Let’s hope the lads have figured out this winning business.

Trust in the process

[Penky]

A. arap Kosgey (rfm) 10-0-61-1, K. Saleem 19 (11b), A. Hakim 34 (31b)
End of over 50 (11 runs) - UAE U20(268-5) RR 5.36

Bats have done really well yet again on humid/green. Only 2 boundaries in the last 20 overs though
We get another crack at defending a big score in these conditions, fingers crossed it doesn't end up like the Zimbabwe game

[Penky]

UAE U20 won by 2 runs
A. Dhul (rfm) 9.5-0-61-4, M. wa Irungu 2 (2b)
End of over 50 (3 runs) - Kenya U20(266-10). 3 runs required from 0 overs. RR 5.32 RRR 0.00

Unbelievable comeback to win that, we looked done with 6 overs left. Dhul the hero with getting the 2 set bats and 2 more wickets in the final over with only 6 to get.

This UAE job is stressful.

[MOD-MrMoose]

UAE U20 won by 2 runs

This UAE job is stressful.

That about says it all Penky. Fortunately this one goes our way!

Now this is podracing! What a finish that was.
The bats did their job scoring 268 on a green in muggy conditions.

Over 45 I’ll set the scene. Two established bats are flying partnerships worth 140 odd. They need 5 an over. The last three have gone for 10. They’re cruising. This is back against the wall stuff for UAE. Fortunately that’s now our speciality (just now I’ve decided that)

Over 46 enter Abbud Dhul he’s 0-47 off his 7. Having a bit of a shocker.

3rd ball of the over - Yes that’s out! Traps Gicheru with the full inswinging Yorker. He’s gotta go for 37.

Over 47. The one and only big Eagle Quinten Lynch has been swung to the other end and he’s got the look about him that he can knock over this tail.

1st ball [censored] [dropped]
3rd ball Fine then I’ll do it myself. Caught and Bowled.
4th ball The slog down to long on and Lynch has two wickets on the trot.

End of over 47 - Kenya need 19 runs off 3 overs with 3 wickets in hand. The danger man is on 140 and on strike.

Over 48. Dhul bowling to wa Kinyua

CATCH IT!!!!! Yes! wa Kinyua has to go after ballooning one to mid on.

Two twos in the over. End of over 48. Kenya need 15 from two overs with two wickets in hand.

End of Over 49. 9 off that Lynch over.

Over 50. 6 balls, 6 runs or two wickets.

1st ball - Got him! Dhul castles wa Mugo!
Three singles from the next three balls.
5th ball - Is there glove on that! All of UAE has gone up with that appeal and yes he’s out! The match is over they’ve won by two runs. WHAT A THRILLER!!!

Tour Match # 3
VS
Result:
UAE win by 2 runs

The Match in a tweet: Who in their right mind would follow UAE. This is stressful stuff. Looked like they’d thrown the game away again but those last 5 overs were magic!

Man of the Match: In my heart it was Dhul, but the officials have given it to Kenya’s wa Kinyua for his 140.

Our best:
Salman Kardal - a handy 35 with the bat, two wickets and a catch. Most economical bowler today with 2-42 off his 10.

Yardeen Shareef - 67 runs including an almost 130 run partnership with Murat.

Abbud Dhul - the hero!!! 4-61 off his 9.5. His last spell was 4-14 off 2.5 overs.

Gadil Murat - a very solid 70.

Naji Saleem - 2/47 off his 10 overs.

Quinten Lynch - 2/51 off his 10 overs. Those two tail wickets critical though.

Oh boy wowee! What a win.

It’s not over. Two games left and we need two more wins if we’re to challenge for promotion! The big one tomorrow against South Africa who haven’t lost a game.

Tune in at 11.30 tomorrow as we try to knock South Africa off top spot.

Trust in the process

[heppa]

[Penky]

Top performance again from the bats, even if they made a fuss of grabbing the winning run! Unfortunately Zimbabwe won as well, or we'd be sitting very pretty

[heppa]

Another good performance from our lads, but still so far from locking in promotion. Need a win on day 5.

Code: Select all

 1	South Africa U204	3	1	0	12	+1.1659	1009 / 200.0	770 / 198.3
 2	UAE U20	        4	3	1	0	12	+0.3539	949 / 186.4	946 / 200.0
 3	Zimbabwe U20	4	3	1	0	12	-0.0724	877 / 191.1	932 / 200.0
 4	USA U20	        4	2	2	0	8	-0.4918	772 / 200.0	837 / 192.2
 5	Kenya U20	4	1	3	0	4	-0.5310	853 / 197.3	970 / 200.0
 6	Ireland U20	4	0	4	0	0	-0.3946	875 / 200.0	880 / 184.3

We could end up with three teams on 16 points.