Ireland and UAE advanced to the semi-finals of the plate league after wins over Canada and Uganda, respectively
Ireland U19s (179 ao, le Roux 83*, Gibson 3/36) beat Canada U19s (85 ao, Sharma 19, Wilson 3/18) by 94 runs
Despite a low first innings total, Ireland were comfortable winners in their plate quarter-final match against Canada and the Brian Lara Cricket Academy, Trinidad.
Canada won the toss and elected to field. Nathan McGuire got Ireland away with a pair of boundaries in the first two overs. Parmveer Kharoud struck in the 3rd over to remove David Vincent for 1. Canada struck again in the 4th over, with Ethan Gibson removing Joshua Cox for 5 to leave Ireland 19/2. Gibson later removed McGuire to put Canada firmly on top at 34/3.
Despite early wickets, Ireland continued to try to score quickly, with captain Tim Tector and Philipp le Roux building a partnership. Tector was dismissed by Sheel Patel, and Scott MacBeth shortly afterwards to Gurnek Singh, as 67/3 quickly became 70/5.
Although le Roux had settled in, Ireland struggled to build partnerships around him, and the Canadians continued to chip away. Kairav Sharma and Gibson struck in consecutive overs, as Ireland found themselves 90/7 in only the 22nd over. Batting at number 9, Jamie Forbes offered crucial resistance, his 25 came as part of a 48-run 8th wicket stand with le Roux.
Ireland’s tail pushed on, as le Roux passed his half-century. Muzamil Sherzad fell for 13, and Reuben Wilson last man out for 1. Ireland were eventually dismissed for 179, with le Roux stranded on 83 not out.
With a low total in their sights, the Canadians set out conservatively in pursuit of their 1st win. However, 15-year-old Reuben Wilson quickly snared both Canadian openers with impressive swing. Ireland’s Liam Doherty added a 3rd wicket in the 5th over, and Canada were on the back foot at 12/3.
Canadian skipper Mihir Patel and Gurnek Singh resisted the remainder of the new-ball spell. The partnership was broken in the 12th over when Patel fell to Sherzad. Nathan McGuire dismissed Singh shortly after, and Sahil Badin could add only one before falling as Canada slumped to 51/7.
Sharma and Sheel Patel were able to offer token resistance, but when Sharma fell to Jamie Forbes first ball of the day, the writing was on the wall. Wilson and Forbes took the final two wickets to bowl Canada out for 85, wrapping a comfortable 94-run win.
UAE U19s (127/9 (40.3 overs), Smith 25, Musinguzi 3/21) beat Uganda U19s (123 ao, Lutaaya 25, Shetty 4/29) by 1 wicket
UAE survived a thrilling contest against Uganda at Queen’s Park Oval, Trinidad, as their tail dug out a battling win.
Uganda won the toss and elected to bat, and made a steady start, with Ronald Opio and Fahad Mutagana seeing off the new-ball spell. UAE brought on Adhitya Shetty in the 11th over, and were rewarded in two balls with the wicket of Opio. Three overs later, Nilansh Keswani took a double strike, removing Mutagana and Asaba to leave the score 39/3.
Roland Lutaaya and Ugandan captain Pascal Murungi set about their work, lifting the score to 74/3, before Murungi was caught behind off Shetty for 23. Having battled to 25, Lutaaya was run out in the 26th over to leave Uganda five-down. Sheety further removed Pius Oloka for a duck, and later removed Joseph Baguma as Uganda collapsed to 95/7. Shetty finished with 4/29 from his 10 overs.
Contributions from Cyrus Kakuru (18) and Edwin Nuwagaba (12) helped Uganda to 123, but both fell to Aayan Khan as Uganda were bowled out in under 40 overs.
With 124 to chase, UAE looked strong favourites, and started positively with Kai Smith and Dhruv Parashar, reaching 42/0 after 10 overs. Smith was bowled by Yunusu Sowobi for 25 in the 11th over. Alishan Sharafu was next in and made 14 lifting UAE to 61/1 to put them ahead of the game.
But Uganda fought back, as Matthew Musinguzi and Baguma struck twice each in 4 overs to reduce the score to 62/5. Musinguzi added a 3rd in the 22nd over, with Ronak Panoly stumped and Uganda ahead with 70/6. Baguma, too, added a 3rd wicket, bowling Ali Naseer for 4.
Needing 42 to win, with three wickets in hand, UAE brought Soorya Sathish and Aayan Khan together at the crease. And with Baguma and Musinguzi having bowled their allocated overs, the Emerati batters found runs easier to come by. Khan battled to 22, before being caught behind off Nuwagaba at 110/8. Sathish was bowled by Nuwagaba two overs later.
The equation was simple: UAE needed 9 to win, Uganda needed 1 wicket. Number 10 batter, Adhitya Shetty struck two fours off Sowobi to level the scores.
Faced with Nuwuguba’s off-breaks, last man Jash Giyanani survived two balls in the 41st over, before hitting the 3rd to the boundary to secure a one-wicket win.
UAE and Ireland advance to the Plate semi-finals, whilst Canada and Uganda will play in the 13th-16th bracket.
You’re reading Emerging Cricket — brought to you by a passionate group of volunteers with a vision for cricket to be a truly global sport, and a mission to inspire passion to grow the game.
Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, please subscribe for regular updates, and follow EC on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Don’t know where to start? Check out our features list, country profiles, and subscribe to our podcast.
Support us from US$2 a month — and get exclusive benefits, by becoming an EC Patron.
