Bahrain National Youth Team triumph

Bahrain National Youth Team defeated the visiting MCC by six wickets the first of four tour matches as part of the 80th anniversary celebrations of Awali Cricket Club yesterday at the Awali Oval. Winning the toss and batting first, MCC were restricted to 196 for six in its 40 overs after an opening stand of 57 by top scorer Michael Thornely (71 runs off 96 deliveries) and Grieg Hofbauer (32 off 46), with Alex Martin (33 off 30) also making a useful contribution.

Of the Bahrain bowlers, Waseeq (three for 32) in eight overs returned the best figures with good support from Gautum (two for 29) in six and Yasir (one for 29) in four, while Maaz Jaffar (0-24), Sukesh (0-16) 4-0-16-0, Rizwan (0-14-0), Imran (0-22) and Sameer (0-19) all played a part in keeping the run rate down as Bahrain National Youth team coach Prachur Shukla’s plan to bowl one side of the wicket with a tight line worked well.

In reply, Bahrain National Youth lost two early wickets as Derbyshire bowler Shiv Thakor took two wickets in two overs to remove opener Sameer Fayaz (2) and Amir (5) cheaply.

Leading from the front, skipper and man of the match Yasir Nazir (74 off 91, 10x4) played a patient innings with good support from Fiaz (27 off 25) and Ubaid (54 not out off 60, 6x4, 1x6) and Safdar (14 not out off 23).