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Deccan Gladiators-MGM beat Ajman Heroes in Ajman T20 Cup opener

Deccan Gladiators-MGM beat Ajman Heroes in Ajman T20 Cup opener

Adeel Malik, captain of Deccan Gladiators-MGM, said: “We are very happy that we got off to a winning start. All my boys played according to a plan. Although we got off to a good start, we lost some quick wickets. But Waqas Ali amd Laxman Manjrekar batted sensibly and took us to victory.”

Adnan Ul Mulk, the skipper of Ajman Heroes felt they were 20 to 30 runs short. “We were 20 to 30 runs short. We could have batted a bit more sensibly. It was a nice atmosphere and an enjoyable contest. We will come back learning from this defeat.”

Earlier, the tournament got off to an electrifying start with a colorful opening ceremony.

“This event will add to UAE’s excellent journey in cricket where they have qualified not once but thrice to play in the ICC World Cups. All performances from this tournament will be captured and passed on to franchise leagues around the world. It was through the Abu Dhabi T10 League that West Indies star Nicholas Pooran displayed his potential and went on to become one of the most sought after cricketers in the world,” Shaji Ul Mulk, secretary general of the Ajman Cricket Council, said.

Shaji Ul Mulk also noted: “Ajman Cricket Council is today a force to reckon with in domestic cricket. We have six grounds, two more are in the making, and there are 15 cement wickets too. We have staged nearly 5000 games, which is a significant number.” After unveiling the trophy, Shaji Ul Mulk declared the tournament open with a message “let the best team win.”

This tournament is being held under the patronage of Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Humaid Al Nuaimi of Ajman.

The ceremony was attended by former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin, Parvez Khan, Ajman Cricket Council’s Director of Cricket, Muhammad Saifullah, Director Cricket Operations, Ajman Cricket Council, and Fayaz Ali, Director of Marketing, Ajman Cricket Council.

Source : Khaleej Times

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Farid’s all-round brilliance lifts Bulls in Ajman T20 Cup

Farid’s all-round brilliance lifts Bulls in Ajman T20 Cup

Zawar Farid’s all-round brilliance helped Delhi Bulls — Future Mattress beat Maratha Arabians — Brother Gas by three wickets in the AVR PAY NEWS Ajman T20 Cup, a press release said.

 

 

 

The event has been supported by Sky Exchange.net.

Azhar wiped away the cream of Northern Warriors – Defenders batting by generating excellent turn and producing some unplayable deliveries.

Farid scored a fine half-century and took two crucial wickets in the third match of the tournament at the Malek Stadium on Monday.

Batting first, Maratha Arabians — Brother Gas made 141 all out in 19.4 overs. Skipper Jiju Janardhanan led from the front with an impressive knock of 55.But Janardhanan’s innings went in vain as the Delhi Bulls — Future Mattress reached the target with five balls to spare, thanks to Farid’s 56 and Mohammad Usman’s 45. 

“It was a tough contest. After the fall of two quick wickets, I decided that I must stay on till the end. I got good support from Mohammad Usman, and that gave me the confidence to keep going. It was a well-fought win,” Farid said.

Meanwhile, Sheraz Ahmed’s deadly four-wicket spell lifted Bangla Tigers-Karwan to a 38-run win over the Northern Warriors-Defenders.

Source : Khaleej Times

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Mohammad Azhar shines as Bulls beat Warriors in Ajman T20 Cup

Mohammad Azhar shines as Bulls beat Warriors in Ajman T20 Cup

Delhi Bulls — Future Mattress’s left-arm spinner Mohammad Azhar wrecked Northern Warriors – Defenders with a deadly five-wicket spell to help his team earn an emphatic eight-wicket win in the Ajman T20 Cup at Malek Stadium on Wednesday.

His spell of 5 for 24 from four overs restricted Northern Warriors – Defenders to 71 all out in 19.3 overs.

Farid scored a fine half-century and took two crucial wickets in the third match of the tournament at the Malek Stadium on Monday.

Meanwhile, Northern Warriors — Defenders fought tooth and nail to pull off a thrilling three-run win over Deccan Gladiators — MGM on Tuesday.

The event has been supported by Sky Exchange.net.

The Warriors made 174 for 8 in 20 overs before restricting the Gladiators to 171 for five.

This T20 thriller had everything on display. It had Northern Warriors – Defenders’ right-arm pacer Taimoor Bhatti’s brilliant display of pace bowling that demolished the top order of the Deccan Gladiators – MGM in the first over.

This was followed by a spectacular and determined batting effort from Deccan Gladiators — MGM’s Waqas Ali, who cracked an unbeaten 69 off 45 balls with four boundaries and four sixes.

While Waqas was brilliant, Rahul Chopra also chipped in with 45.

But in the end, their efforts were not enough as the Warriors survived the late drama to complete a thrilling victory.

Bhatti was named the man of the match for his impressive figures of 3 for 24.

Earlier, Northern Warriors – Defenders managed to post a challenging total after winning the toss.

While none of their batsmen scored a half century, the contributions from Yasir Kaleem (40) and

Sandeep Singh (35) played a key role in the team registering a big total.

Pace bowler Bhatti was delighted with his match-winning performance against the Gladiators.

“I always had a short run-up, and unlike fast bowlers who take long strides, I am able to generate good pace. What matters is that we all bowled well to win this tight match,” he said.

Source : Khaleej Times

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Ajman Cricket Council launches Ajman T20 Cup to nurture regional talent

Ajman Cricket Council launches Ajman T20 Cup to nurture regional talent.

The AVR Pay News Ajman T20 Cup, powered by SkyExchange.Net, which presents a major opportunity for local cricketers to showcase their talent is all set to occur in full swing.

Conceptualized by the founder of Abu Dhabi T10, Shaji Ul Mulk, and the Ajman Cricket Council, the initiative has been launched to recruit emerging talent and amplify the cricketing ecosystem in the UAE.

The matches in the AVR Pay News Ajman T20 Cup will be held in the city’s Malik Cricket Stadium from the 13th-22nd March, where players’ performance will be closely monitored and assessed.

Those who qualify will be presented to the Player Management Council for assessment giving the best players a chance to advance their cricketing careers and compete with national-level seniors.

“The UAE has seen tremendous growth in the cricket community; the Ajman Cricket Council is working proactively to nurture the region’s raw talent and fortify them for the international stage. We wish to create an infrastructure where players can healthily challenge themselves, reach their full potential, and leverage Abu Dhabi T10’s extensive platform,” said Mr Mulk.

Parvez Khan, Ajman Cricket Council Director added, “The tournament is designed to facilitate healthy competition and help scout UAE-based talent and dedicated cricketers of all nationalities. We greatly appreciate our sponsors, AVR Pay News and SkyExchange.Net who have helped us in this endeavour.”

As a former domestic player himself, Adnan Ul Mulk lauded tournaments like this for being a springboard for UAE talent and said he looked forward to seeing the players shine on this stage.

Mr Mulk added that plans are also afoot to resurrect a UAE-South Asian tournament where players from the domestic leagues will get the opportunity to play with international talent from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh And Sri Lanka.

Mohammad Azharuddin marks his presence at the launch event

Legendary Indian cricketer Mohammad Azharuddin was present at the press conference where the AVR Pay News Ajman T20 Cup details were announced, and expressed his excitement at the striking developments witnessed in the UAE domestic circuit, reiterating Mr Mulk’s views.

“This is the first domestic tournament with an international format and therefore, extremely likely to have an impact. From the formal draft to choose players to live streaming matches across the world, the tournament has the potential to put Ajman on the cricketing map,” he said.

A draft to choose players for the following teams was also held today — Deccan Gladiators, Northern Warriors, Maratha Arabians, Bangla Tigers, Delhi Bulls, and Ajman Heroes, the latter being a council managed team.

Sheraz Ahmed, Usman Khan, Umair Ali Khan, Sultan Ahmed and Adeel Malik, Shoaib’s younger brother, are just some of the dynamic local cricketing talents who will be competing for glory.

To ensure the widest exposure of the AVR Pay News Ajman T20 Cup and give the nascent talent an exciting edge, for the first time the matches will be live-streamed on FanCode in India (100 million reach), CricTracker (10 million reach), and Willow TV for massive reach in the USA & Canada.

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Shane Watson wont hear talk of international comeback

Shane Watson won't hear talk of international comeback.

Source: Alex Broun, Sports 360 | May 30, 2018

The hero of Chennai Super Kings’ thrilling victory in the IPL Final, former Australian Test star Shane Watson, has emphatically ruled himself out of a return to international cricket.

The call for Watson to come out of international retirement, which he took in 2016, has been growing in strength since his IPL heroics with current Australian T20 star Marcus Stoinis saying “he’s still good enough to play for Australia, for sure.”

In Dubai yesterday as he was announced as the Icon player for new T10 franchise Karachians, Watson was asked if after his match-winning 117 not out against Sunrisers Hyderabad in Mumbai on Sunday night he would consider a return to the international scene.

“No! No,” said the 36-year-old, cutting the question short. “I’ve been very fortunate to have a good and long Australian career but my time’s done.”

“I know Australian cricket is missing two of its best batsman (the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner) for another probably ten months, but look in the end it’s the next generation coming through.

“That’s how you develop your young cricketers, giving them an opportunity to see (how they do). It’s really sink or swim for some of the younger guys coming in. But it’s the best way to learn very quickly.”

Watson did however say he was happy to mentor younger players and would even consider a coaching role in the future.

“I am around playing these tournaments,” the veteran of 59 Tests said, “even during the Big Bash, to be able to mentor these players. I’m happy to mentor, not actually play because it’s up to the next generation.

“I’m very, very grateful to be able to play in the T20 tournaments and incredibly fortunate for an opportunity to play in a T10 tournament and for a franchise like Karachians.

“To be involved in a new wave of a new concept of T10 cricket. The ten overs definitely suits my body (these days) more than test cricket or four day cricket.”

“Like it was when I first started playing Twenty20 cricket in 2004-05 – it’s a different dynamic to what you think it’s going to be.” Watson has not yet spoken to the disgraced Australian captain Steve Smith about the incident in South Africa but he will be linking up with him to play grade cricket for Sutherland in Sydney at the start of the Australian summer in September and is looking forward to spending time with him then.

“I haven’t connected with him yet but I’m going to have a chance to play with him in club cricket,” said Watson.

“He (Smith) needs his space as well to be able to work through it but once he gets back in the cricket side of things and finds his feet again it will all get closer to getting back into it.”

Speaking further about the ball-tampering incident Watson said nothing like that happened during his tenure as Australian Test cricket, “or I would have got more wickets” he quipped.

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Phoenix medicines emerges Ajman Ramadan Cup Champions

Phoenix Medicines emerges Ajman Ramadan Cup Champions

AJMAN: In the final of the first edition of Ajman Ramadan Cup between Phoenix Medicines and Atlas Foundation, Atlas choose to bat on winning the toss.

Babar Hussain cracked 88 runs from 46 balls while Qamar Abbas scored 28 runs from 13 balls to post an impressive 159 for 7 in 18 overs. If not for Phoenix’s Waheed Ahmed’s spell of 3 wickets for 39 runs from his 4 overs, Atlas could have posted a bigger total. Phoenix chased the total through M.Ikram’s 64 runs from 39 balls and Hafiz Kaleem’s 46 runs from 28 balls while Rehan Tanali of Atlas being the pick of the bowler with 3 wickets for 22 runs from his 4 overs. Phoenix Medicines won by 5 wickets and 3 balls to spare.

Brief Scores: Phoenix Medicines bt Atlas Foundation by 5 wickets. Atlas Foundation 159 for 7 in 18 overs (Babar Hussain 88, Qamar Abbas 28, Tariq Muhamood 21, Waheed Ahmed 3 for 39, Hafiz Kaleem 2 for 20) Phoenix Medicines 162 for 5 in 17.3 overs (Mohammed Ikram 64*, Hafiz Kaleem 46, M.Boota 21, Rehan Tanali 3 for 22, Saeed Gul Khan 2 for 34)

Individual Awards: Man of the Match (Final): Mohammed Ikram (Phoenix Medicines)

Man of the Series: Qasim Mohammed (Alubond Tigers)

Best Batsman: Qasim Mohammed(Alubond Tigers)

Best Bowler: Saeed Gul Khan(Atlas Foundation)

Best Fielder: Amjad Gul Khan (Alubond Tigers)

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IPL hero Shane Watson joins Karachians in T10 League

IPL hero Shane Watson joins Karachians in T10 League.

Source: Ali Ahmed, Be Recorder | May 30, 2018 

Dubai: Two new teams — a Pakistan and an Indian community-based squad will be added to the T10 Cricket League, the inaugural edition of which was held with great fanfare in Sharjah last December.

The first edition was contested by six teams: Bengal Tigers, Kerala Kings, Maratha Arabians, Pakhtoons, Punjabi Legends and Team Sri Lanka.

Speaking to Gulf News, Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairman of the T10 Cricket League who visualised this event, said: “We have decided to go for additional two new teams.

The tournament duration will now be doubled from four days to minimum eight days or even 10 days. We will also use two venues — Sharjah and Dubai for the next edition. A lot of changes are in offing for the next T10 Cricket League after the success of last year.”

Shaji also revealed that the names of the team will be announced soon.

“The two teams we have decided would be a Pakistan community based team and another from the Indian community. We have given them a whole choice of names in the bidding document which they can select. The successful bidder can also have the choice of name,” said Shaji

The choice of names provided for the bidders are Deccan, Sindh, Menon, Marwaris, Balochs, Andhra, Gujarat, Fata and Kabul.

“The franchise fees have now been doubled and we are hoping to get $1.2m per team as last year it was only $400,000 per year. This will take the league to a higher level as it will also give immediate financial returns to all the six team owners who have only paid at the rate of $400,000 per year for the next ten years.”

The first edition of the T10 league showed record-breaking TRPs across the world and was broadcast live all over India, Pakistan, Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, USA and over 110 countries worldwide.

Elaborating on how the team owners would gain more returns, Shaji said: “Cricket franchise module works not just on revenue but also on an evaluation basis. Now since we are increasing the franchise fees for the two new teams to $1.2 million per year, it will be $12 million for 10 years — so immediately, the valuation of six teams will jump up. If one franchise sells 50 per cent of his shares, he is bound to get $6 million as his entire spending for the ten years will only be $4 million Since the tournament is more than double all the revenue will also be double in terms of sponsorship and gate collection. Television broadcast income will also be double As per the contract about 80 per cent of the revenue we give back to the team owners. So team owners will gain additional revenue and on the evaluations.”

Salman Iqbal, the T10 Cricket league partner and President and Chairman ARY and owner of PSL’s Karachi Kings, said: “The stage is now set for us

to take off onto the next level by adding two new teams. We are looking to complete the process as early as possible so that we can scale up the preparations this year.”

D5ubai: Two new teams — a Pakistan and an Indian community-based squad will be added to the T10 Cricket League, the inaugural edition of which was held with great fanfare in Sharjah last December.

The first edition was contested by six teams: Bengal Tigers, Kerala Kings, Maratha Arabians, Pakhtoons, Punjabi Legends and Team Sri Lanka.

Speaking to Gulf News, Shaji Ul Mulk, the chairman of the T10 Cricket League who visualised this event, said: “We have decided to go for additional two new teams.

The tournament duration will now be doubled from four days to minimum eight days or even 10 days. We will also use two venues — Sharjah and Dubai for the next edition. A lot of changes are in offing for the next T10 Cricket League after the success of last year.”

Shaji also revealed that the names of the team will be announced soon.

“The two teams we have decided would be a Pakistan community based team and another from the Indian community. We have given them a whole choice of names in the bidding document which they can select. The successful bidder can also have the choice of name,” said Shaji

The choice of names provided for the bidders are Deccan, Sindh, Menon, Marwaris, Balochs, Andhra, Gujarat, Fata and Kabul.

“The franchise fees have now been doubled and we are hoping to get $1.2m per team as last year it was only $400,000 per year. This will take the league to a higher level as it will also give immediate financial returns to all the six team owners who have only paid at the rate of $400,000 per year for the next ten years.”

The first edition of the T10 league showed record-breaking TRPs across the world and was broadcast live all over India, Pakistan, Middle East, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, USA and over 110 countries worldwide.

Elaborating on how the team owners would gain more returns, Shaji said: “Cricket franchise module works not just on revenue but also on an evaluation basis. Now since we are increasing the franchise fees for the two new teams to $1.2 million per year, it will be $12 million for 10 years — so immediately, the valuation of six teams will jump up. If one franchise sells 50 per cent of his shares, he is bound to get $6 million as his entire spending for the ten years will only be $4 million Since the tournament is more than double all the revenue will also be double in terms of sponsorship and gate collection. Television broadcast income will also be double As per the contract about 80 per cent of the revenue we give back to the team owners. So team owners will gain additional revenue and on the evaluations.”

Salman Iqbal, the T10 Cricket league partner and President and Chairman ARY and owner of PSL’s Karachi Kings, said: “The stage is now set for us

to take off onto the next level by adding two new teams. We are looking to complete the process as early as possible so that we can scale up the preparations this year.”