Sharjah Academy win 1st DCC-Women's League title

Sharjah Cricket Academy (SCA) won the inaugural DCC-Women's League after pulling off a thrilling three-run win over ICC Academy in the final at the Fairgrounds of the Dubai Men’s College on Sunday.

GMC was the third team that participated in this single round-robin T20 tournament organised and sponsored by the Dubai Cricket Council.

The final was a low-scoring one but produced a nail-biting finish.

Put into bat, SCA were restricted to  89 for nine in their 20 overs.

ICC had a good chance of turning the tables on SCA after they lost to them by 32 runs in the league match.

But they fell agonisingly short to finish on 86-5 with three run-outs proving costly.

Namita D’Souza (4-2-8-3) and Kyna Vedhasinghe (4-0-6-3) were outstanding with the ball for ICC.

Chaya Mudgal and Humaira Tasneem rescued SCA after four wickets fell cheaply.

Mudgal scored 22 from 26 balls and Humaira 21 from 25.

Roopa Nagaraj hit a gutsty 38 and batswoman of the final Kyna chipped in with 17 but ICC fell short of their target.

DCC executive committee member Shiva Pagarani said this was probably the first time a domestic women's cricket tournament has been held in the Gulf.

"The Dubai Cricket Council took this initiative without any sponsors or entry fees and provided players coloured clothing, etc," he said.

Manvi Dhodhi of SCA lauded DCC for organising this tournament.

"Facilities were really good. Girls had a very nice time. First time this league was organised. We are looking for more participation next time," she said.

"This is a ground for making future stars. I'm sure this tournament will be helping UAE women's cricket in future and this is an ideal preparation for the upcoming Women Gulf Cup to be held in Qatar where UAE are defending champions," said Dhodhi who is manager of the ECB-UAE Women's team.

DCC general secretary Amin Farooq was the chief guest at the final and gave away the awards.
 
Brief scores:

Sharjah Cricket Academy beat ICC Academy by 3 runs

SCA 89 for 9 in 20 overs (Chaya Mudgal 22, Humaira Tasneem 21; Namita D’Souza 3-8, Kyna Vedhasinghe 3-16, Fatima Ahsan 1-16, Roopa Nagaraj 1-12) ICC 86 for 5 in 20 overs (Roopa Nagaraj 38,Kyna Vedhasinghe 17, Chaitrali Kalgutka 10; Subha Srinivasan 2-11).

Special awards

Batswoman of the final: Kyna Vedhasinghe of ICC.
 
Best batswoman: Nisha Ali (71 runs in 2 matches) of Sharjah Cricket Academy

Best bowler: Namita D'Souza (4 wickets in 2 matches) of ICC Academy

Player of the tournament: Chamani Sevevirathane (2 matches, 34 runs and 3 wickets) of GM Cricket Academy

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