Debutants Abela through to semis

Batting first, the Sandpipers put up a score of 50 runs on the board, and while they assumed that would be enough, Abela displayed tremendous calm under pressure.

Published: Mon 13 Jul 2015, 6:32 PM

Dubai - Abela and Co. entered the semifinals of the Silver Division of the Sprite Ramadan Tournament at the ICC Academy at Dubai Sports City.
While this feat is indeed impressive, what makes it even more so is that Abela have done so on their debut appearance in this tournament, winning them many admirers along the way. And it was very much edge-of-the-seat on the night: Abela clinched victory against the Sandpipers by the narrowest of margins.
Batting first, the Sandpipers put up a score of 50 runs on the board, and while they assumed that would be enough, Abela displayed tremendous calm under pressure to eke out just one more run that their opponents, with their last-gasp win booking their passage through to the semis.
But while the Sandpipers' score of 50 wasn't enough for them, it certainly was for SFS, who recorded an 11-run win over BPN to also reach the tournament semis.
Al Futtaim Logistics also came good at the right time, posting a score of 52 against the High Ninjas and then restricting their opponents to just 16 runs.

Brief scores
> Abela & Co. beat Sand pipers by 1 run. Sandpipers 50 (Saurabh 10) vs Abela & Co. 51 (Kallis 13, Adnan 12). Man-of-the-match: Kallis from Abela.
> SFS beat BPN by 11 runs. SFS 48 (Abdul Rahim 10) vs BPN 39 (Toufeeq 10, Prashanth 13, Abdul Rahim, Parvez and Sachin 1 wkt each). Man-of-the-match: Abdul Rahim from SFS.
> Al Futtaim Logistics beat High Ninjas by 36 runs. Al Futtaim Logistics 52 (Vijay 10) vs High Ninjas 16 (Ishan and Vijay two wkts each). Man-of-the-match: Vijay from Al Futtaim Logistics.
> GMCA beat DBMSC by 18 runs. GMCA 40 (Abdul Rehman 12) vs DBMSC 22 (Qasim Mustafa 3 wkts). Man-of-the-match: Qasim Mustafa from GMCA.
> Friend beat HSBC by 5 runs. Friend 40 (Ishan 8, Uzair 1 wkt) vs HSBC 35 (Uzair 9, Ibthisham 2 wkts). Man-of-the-match: Uzair from HSBC.
> Romaan beat Evergreen 8 by 28 runs. Romaan 64 (Matin 11, Mukthar 12, Santosh 10, Mohsin 11) vs Evergreen '8' 36 (Sameer 13, Mukhtar 1 wkt). Man-of-the-match: Mukhtar from Romaan.