On January 31, after a nerve-racking match against Jumeirah College at Repton School Dubai, the WSO-U19 cricket team suffered a tough loss as the opposition won the match by 4 wickets.
The toss was in favour of WSO who chose to bat. Although the opening batsmen Shetty and Vohra crossed the 50 run partnership, the run rate was quite poor and the opposition continued to ensure that they do not easily give away runs. The turning point of the first innings was the loss of the first wicket for WSO as the subsequent batsmen left early without making much of a mark on the scoreboard.
“Our run rate was quite slow and it was quite difficult to face the bouncers. There was a bit of miscommunication on the pitch that led to the loss of 2 wickets. If we can improve on this, then we will be able to have a higher score and increase the chances of our win in the next match” said WSO captain Shetty unhappily on seeing the scoreboard.
The second innings had begun with a shock for Jumeirah College as the team had lost their opening batsmen in the first over from a spectacular delivery by Pranav. The wickets started to slowly tumble as bowlers Pranav, Trish, Choudhary and Carlin started to gather the wickets for the team. The hopes for an easy win had reached a point where it may be out of hand for Jumeirah College.
Match-winner Yuvraj 40+ runs and helped lead Jumeirah College to victory. “ All we needed to do was keep our calm and ensure that we do not lose out on wickets and opportunities. We thought it would have been an easy match for us but the opposition did not lose their hopes and kept fighting which made it difficult for us to chase as well. Overall, I believe it was a great match against a really tough opponent” said Yuvraj after the match.
“It was a great match and all the players did really well. The team’s fielding and bowling were exceptional but we need to improve in our batting to obtain a higher score” said WSO coach Mr Booth.
Venkat G Nair
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