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A 14-member team led by St Christopher’s Senior School student Bharath Sreenivasan left for Colombo, Sri Lanka, en route to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on Monday night to take part in the Asian Cricket Council’s (ACC) Under-16 Premier Cup, writes Gopal Nambiar.
The Alba-sponsored team, which includes six Bahrainis, was announced by Cricket Bahrain Association (CBA) president Saleem Eliyas under the aegis of the Bahrain Olympic Committee. According to new ACC rules, the squad should consist of six nationals and the playing 11 should include five nationals.
The round-robin tournament, to be played from Tuesday to August 20, consists of the top six non-Test playing nations in Asia, and the Bahrain Under 16 team is ranked sixth among the 26 ACC members. The fifth- and sixth-placed teams from this tournament will be demoted to the Elite Cup.
Coach Rexy Arulvasagam said: “We are going to Malaysia almost a week before the tournament begins because we want the boys to get acclimatised to turf wickets, which we lack in Bahrain. We will be looking to win at least three matches out of the five so that we can stay in the Premier Cup.
“I want the boys to enjoy the big-match experience and utilise all the positives that they learn during the tournament to improve their game.”
Malaysia, Nepal, Oman, Thailand and Singapore are the other teams that will be competing in 40-over tournament and players born after September 1, 1998, are eligible subject to clearing a bone age-verification test.
The Bahrain team was selected based on the players’ performance in the Shaikh Khalid bin Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa Under-16 Inter-School Tournament which concluded in May.
The selection panel, consisting of coaches Arulvasagam, Mukundan Warrier, Ajith Kumarasiri and Prachur Shukla, named a squad of 14 as well as four reserve players, which includes two Bahrainis.
The squad was briefed on the ‘Spirit of Cricket and Tour Guidelines and Anti-doping guidelines’ by Shukla. Alba presented the team with official T-shirts and track suits.
During the Shaikh Khalid Cup a Bahraini Combined Schools team took part and reached the finals where they lost to Indian School Bahrain (ISB). Following the tournament, 27 players were selected for the national camp including 11 Bahrainis. The two-month camp was conducted at CBA Academy at the former Al Najma Club grounds. Various senior players also lent their support to the national camp.
The squad: Bharat Srinivassan (captain, 15 years, St Christopher’s School), Abdul Ahad (vice-captain and wicket-keeper, 15, Abdulrahman Al Nasir Boys School, Muharraq, Bahraini), Avais Muzaffar (15, Ibn Al Hytham Islamic School, Bahraini), Lakshman (15, Ibn Al Hytham Islamic School), Subhan Mohammed (14, Pakistan School, Bahraini), Anand Athreya (14, ISB), Dawood Khawaja Nasir (14, Pakistan Urdu School, Bahraini), Hamza Khawaja Nasir (15, Pakistan Urdu School, Bahraini), Karthik Sai Krishnan (15, Asian School), Lijo Jose (15, ISB), Raed Mohammed (14, Pakistan Urdu School), Mohammed Haris Khan (14, ISB, Bahraini), Rakshit Puppala (14, ISB) and Tahenan Haroon (14, Al Noor International School).
Coach: Rexy Arulvasagam; manager: Mukundan Warrier.
Reserves: Jermy Shaji, Nihal Sunil (both ISB), Salman Akram and Syed Hamza (both Bahrainis, from Pakistan School).
Tournament schedule: Aug 14 - Malaysia v Bahrain at Kinrara; Oman v Singapore at RSC; Nepal v Thailand at STC. Aug 15 - Nepal v Singapore at Kinrara; Bahrain v Thailand at RSC; Malaysia v Oman at STC. Aug 17 - Bahrain v Singapore at Kinrara; Nepal v Oman at RSC; Malaysia v Thailand at STC. Aug 18 - Malaysia v Singapore at Bayuemas; Oman v Thailand at Kinrara; Bahrain v Nepal at STC. Aug 20 - Bahrain v Oman at Bayuemas; Malaysia v Nepal at Kinrara; Singapore v Thailand at STC.
