Redwood, Old School Boys begin with wins

dubai — Redwood and Old School Boys began their campaigns in the Dubai Cricket Council’s Summer League with wins at The Sevens ground.

Amit Mehta excelled with the bat and ball in Redwood’s 13-run win over Red Knight CC, while Burhan Naseem’s 84 steered Old School Boys to a five-wicket win over Roaring Lions.

Redwood were put into bat and were off to a flier from openers Karan Ashok and Bipin Baswaraj who put on a half century partnership. Karan scored a runa-ball 19 but Bipin was in his elements scoring 51 from just 37 balls which came off three sixes and five boundaries.

But wickets at regular intervals meant Redwood were not yet out of the woods and found themselves struggling on 106 for 6.

In came Amit and along with Ganesh Ramanan changed the complexion of the game with a strokeful 105-run partnership.

Amit was severe on the Red Knight bowlers as he clobbered them for nine fours and two sixes during his unbeaten knock of 78 from just 42 balls. Ganesh remained not out on 20.

Red Knight had good contributions from Faheem Kakroo (40), Shane Fernandes (47) and Farrukh Mubeen (43) but the target proved too stiff and Red Knight could muster only 198.

In the other match, Rajeeb Naug and Deepak Nicholas gave Roaring Lions a breezy start with a 113-run partnership. Naug scored 83 from 66 balls coupled with two sixes and nine fours. Deepak stroked 57 from 29 which consisted of three sixes and seven fours. But with Burhan Naseem looking in ominous form Old School made a target of 200 look small after they chased it down in 22.3 overs. Brief scores: Old School Boys beat Roaring Lions by 5 wickets Roaring Lions 200 for 6 in 25 overs (Rajeeb Naug 83, Deepak Nicholas 57, Rohan Kapoor 32; Junaid Kaba 2-16, Mohammad Ibthisam 2-31) Old School Boys 204 for 5 in 22.3 overs (Burhan Naseem 84, Zeeshan Akmal 37, Adnan Khan 21, Harsh Chatur 20). Man of the

match: Burhan Naseem. Redwood beat Red Knight by 13 runs Redwood 211 for 6 in 25 overs (Amit Mehta 78 n.o., Bipin Baswaraj 51, Ganesh Ramanan 20 n.o.; Karan Tekwani 2-28, Faheem Kakroo 2-49) Red Knight 198 for 9 in 25 overs (Shane Fernandes 47, Farrukh Mubeen 43, Faheem Kakroo 40; Upender Singh 3-32, Amit Mehta 2-26).

Man of the match: Amit Mehta.