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| Malaysia's Ahmad Tajuddin, one among a number of Malaysian match-winners |
Malaysia won back their pre-tournament 'serious contender' tag with an assured victory over Saudi Arabia in their latest ACC U-16 Elite Cup match. They won by six wickets against a team that could have caused them much problems. "We focused, bowled better, got a lot more things right," (than in the defeat to Singapore), said Malaysia’s coach Haris Abu Baker.
Indeed, on today’s form Malaysia would have seriously challenged Singapore. Malaysia’s opening bowlers, Khairul Razman and Tharmaraj Mohan bowled straight and gave Saudi Arabia’s top-order hardly any room to play their flowing strokes. The Saudi batsmen struggled all innings to get the ball away, even off of the square. Malaysia have always been known for their fielding prowess, today they backed up their bowlers just as their coach would have wanted. “We had to bowl better than what we did against Singapore,” said off-spinner Syadhat Ramli afterwards.
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| Syadhat Ramli bowls to Saudi captain Mohammad Abdullah |
Eight Malaysian bowlers were used, all did a job for their team, with the spinners Nik Nabil and Ramli taking seven wickets between them. It was Muhammad Fitri Sham who struck the biggest blow however, bowling Saudi Arabia’s captain Mohammad Abdullah with a beauty which pitched on leg and middle and clipped off. Abdullah was out for a patient 22 and with his dismissal the gates were opened.
All out for 125 in the 37th over, the only way Saudi Arabia were going to win this was by taking all of Malaysia’s wickets/ Amerul Hussein and Razlan Zalati did indeed fall by the end of the fourth over of Malaysia’s innings but a 47-run partnership between Ramli and Ahmed Tajuddin in 44 balls got Malaysia back on track and the normally voluble Saudi players became quieter and quieter.
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| Saudi Arabia's Mohammad Abdullah huffed and puffed but couldn't blow the Malaysians down |
Faheem Afrad Saudi Arabia’s mercurial spinner could only bowl four overs today, hampered by a muscle pull, had be bowled more, Malaysia would have been under more pressure.
There was regular applause from the Malaysia camp and from the crowd of 100 or so Pulchowk Engineering College students watching the match. Tajuddin played exceptionally well for his undefeated 45 and had a gritty partner in Azwan Idris. They did the job for their team practically in a professional manner.
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| Syadhat Ramli |
ACC U-16 Elite Cup 2010
Group B
Malaysia v Saudi Arabia at Engineering Ground
MALAYSIA WON BY SIX WICKETS
Saudi Arabia won the toss and chose to bat
Saudi Arabia: 125 all out off 36.2 overs (M.Usman 37; N.Nabil 3-20, S.Ramli 4-25)
Malaysia: 126 for 4 off 24.1 overs (A.Tajuddin 45*)
Man of the Match: Syadhat Ramli (Malaysia)
Scorecard
Tournament page
Pictures courtesy Aric Tan
Filed March 11th, 2010
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