Dubai budding cricket stars win hearts on UK tour

 Agnelo Rodrigues, Special Correspondent

Leichestershire: Three YTCA Kings UAE youngsters came off with flying colours in the City Cricket Academy’s (CCA) Twenty20 Under-10 tournament held at the CCA grounds in Leicestershire last weekend.

Ryan Flory, Dev Narayan and Mohsin Hasnain, who are on their debut on the UK Tour, were part of the annual Colour Clothing Tournament which features overseas players from India, Pakistan and Australia among others.

The participants in the tournament were divided into four teams. While Narayan was drafted in CCA Foxes team, Mohsin was a part of the CCA Bears and Flory wore the CCA Outlaws jersey.

The Foxes missed out making to the finals after losing out to the Outlaws in the semi-finals. And the finals pitted the Outlaws against the Bears which had the UAE’s smart bowler Mohsin in its ranks.

It was a tense battle for glory on the final day of the tournament. And though the Bears managed to lay their hands on the trophy, it did not come easy. The Outlaws tested them hard before losing the tie by a very slim margin of 4 runs.

Electing to bat after winning the toss the CCA Bears piled up a total of 96 runs for the loss of eight wickets. Opener K Tailor led from the front. He top-scored with 36 runs off 45 deliveries with a boundary in the mix. When the Bears were 77-4, Mohsin, one of the star batsman, came to the crease. But it was not his day as he could add only six runs to the tally before being run-out by L Farndon. Apart from Tailor, none of the batsmen crossed the single digit mark.

In the bowling division T De Costa had two wickets to his credit while Dubai boy Flory bowled three overs parting away with 15 runs. Though the spin bowler was not up to his usual mark with the ball, the fifth grade student from The Westminster, Dubai, outshone his teammates in the second innings with his batting skills and became the highest scorer for his side with 25 runs.

But more noteworthy was Ryan’s nerve of holding ground during the crucial juncture of the game with opener A Hirani. If not for the strong third wicket partnership the match could have folded up much earlier.

There was a dismal collapse of wickets at the top. S Satya was bowled in the first delivery itself by G Rupra and two ball later he got his second scalp which brought the outlaws standing at 2 for 2. Ryan who is on his international debut match came in 4 down and then steadied the innings and took the match up to the 14th over together with his fellow batsman to put 45 on board It was Rupra’s good length delivery once again which broke the long partnership for the third wicket taking the outlaws to 63-3. Rupra eventually was the pick of the bowlers.

Ryan was happy with his performance and thanked the YTCA coaches and his parents for the success.

“I want to thank coach Shahzad, Virosh and Waqar for grooming me,” said the budding cricketer.

“My first coach is my dad, and he has been training me for more than a year, before I joined YTCA. I also want to thank my mother for all the support and encouragement.”

As for Mohsin, who is on his second foreign tour, averred that the ongoing tour has helped him hone his skills further.