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29 March 2024

Sharjah women make final despite losing to GMC

GMC Academy women's team with DCC officals. (Supplied)

Published
By Cricket Correspondent

Udeni Kuruppuarachchi struck a superb unbeaten half century as GM Cricket  Academy pulled off a thriller against Sharjah Cricket Academy (SCA) in the women’s cricket league at the Fairgrounds of the Dubai Men’s College on Sunday.

Their five-wicket win with two balls to spare, however, was not good enough to take them into the final of the single round-robin tournament which is being held with the help of the Dubai Cricket Council.

GMC had performed badly in their first match against ICC Academy as such their net run rate dropped drastically.

They needed to win by a big margin against SCA to have any hope of making the final which will now be played between ICC and SCA on November 1.

SCA won the toss and Esha Oza set the ball rolling with three fours. She and Chaya Mudgal (7) added 32 for the first wicket with Esha doing the bulk of the scoring.

After Esha’s dismissal for 21 from 19 balls, it was Subha Srinivasan who took charge despite another two wickets falling in quick time.

Luckily for Subha she found a good batting partner in Dipanki Borcar.

Together they carried their team’s score from 42 for 4 to 111 for 4 after their allotted 20 overs with both batswomen returning to the pavilion unbeaten.

Subha struck a run-a-ball 36 and Dipanki hit 27 from 33 balls.

Dilhani Siriwardhana (2-12) was GMC’s most impressive bowler.

GMC had a stop and start chase. Chamini Seneviratne (16) and Sadiya Naveed (20) kept GMC hot on SCA’s heels but with wickets falling at regular intervals they found themselves struggling on 58 for 5.

Now, it was left to Udeni to play a match-winning knock. In the company of Dilhani, who scored barely four runs in their partnership of 54 runs, Udeni completely dominated the SCA attack slamming 10 boundaries to return back unbeaten on 51 from just 27 balls as GMC crossed the line in 19.4 overs.

Sadly Udeni’s efforts went in vain as GMC failed to make the final.

Brief scores:

GMC Academy beat SCA by 5 wickets


SCA 111 for 4 in 20 overs (Subha Srinivasan 36no, Dipanki Borcar 27no, Esha Oza 21; Dilhani Siriwardhana 2-12, Shini Khalid 1-18, Prashani Samudra 1-20) GMC 112 for 5 in 19.4 overs (Udeni Kuruppuarachchi 51 no, Sadiya Naveed 20, Chamini Seneviratne 16; Heena Hotchandani 2-12, Shivani Sathe 1-12, Nisha Ali 1-13). Woman of the match: Udeni Kuruppuarachchi of GMC.