Exiles Cricket Club Trot Past Dubai Stallions Cricket Club

Exiles Cricket Club‘s Dubai Super League match against Dubai Stallions – Arabians cricket match turned into a ‘slow burn’ in difficult playing conditions, strong winds and an oval cloaked in continuous dust provided difficult playing conditions in a match that Exiles Cricket Club eventually crossed the winning post.

Jay Parmar loosens up

Clint Berkenshaw opens the Exiles bowling attack

Celebrations…

Dubai Stallions – Arabians batted first and it wasn’t long before the first wicket fell. Syed Maqsood was the first to go, caught by wicketkeeper Ben Willgoss off Hamza’s Shujaat‘s bowling. Fellow opener Usman Khalid provided stubborn resistance, eventually caught by Jack Luffman at the boundary, Zeeshan Durrani the bowler.

Dubai Stallions – Arabians provided stubborn resistance

Hamza Shujaat takes a wicket

The wickets came thick and fast, after only 14 overs, the Dubai Stallions – Arabians had 66 runs on the board, but six wickets had been taken. Exiles Cricket Club were looking good and there were thoughts of an early finish.

Ben Willgoss was full of energy all morning

Hamza Sajjad and Jawad Khan had different ideas. Batting at seven and eight, between them they added 63 runs to the struggling Arabians’ total. Hamza Sajjad eventually caught by Hamza Shujaat off Siddhant Jhurani and Jawad Khan caught by Ben Willgoss, again off Siddhant Jhurani. When the overs had finally evaporated, Dubai Stallions – Arabians has posted a total of 150 for Exiles Cricket Club to chase.

Clint Berkenshaw heads to the boundary

Siddhant Jhurani had a good day in the field

Dubai Stallions – Arabians chase a boundary

On any normal day, the chase to 151 wouldn’t be considered a difficult target for Exiles CC, but the swirling wind, dusty conditions threw a curveball into proceedings that nobody really expected. Jay Parmar is usually pretty hand with a bat, but on this occasion his wicket went off only the second ball he faced – it was a dubious decision, stumped by Syed Maqsood off Shabir Ali‘s bowling.

Harsh ‘Harry’ Udeshi enjoyed himself

Jay Parmar‘s wicket falls

Things didn’t get easier any time soon. Harsh ‘Harry’ Udeshi contributed well, scoring 33 of 27 balls with a sprinkling of boundaries, but other wickets fell too quickly, Jack Luffman went for 5 runs, the usually dynamic Clint Berkenshaw contributed 11, Sairaj Raghavan added 11. The usually reliable Exiles CC middle order were finding the conditions difficult to manage.

Harsh ‘Harry’ Udeshi scored 33 including 3 x fours

Dave Adams came to the crease, and steadied a very wayward ship. His unbeaten 34 off 30 balls, which included a very timely six, had a significant impact on the scoreboard and moved the chase, slowly, to the winning post. Siddhant Jhurani added 5, but it took the contributions of Divjot Singh, 21 runs off 23 balls, and an unbeaten 17 off Ben Willgoss to earn Dubai Exiles Cricket Club victory.

Siddhant Jhurani is always keen to run

Nice sunglasses!

Ben Willgoss brought the Exiles over the finish line