Men’s T20 Cricket
All matches to be played at Tribhuvan University International Cricket Ground, Kathmandu
Dec 4 – Bangladesh V Maldives – 08:30 am Scorecard
Dec 5 – Maldives V Sri Lanka – 12:30 pm Scorecard
Dec 6 – Nepal V Maldives – 12:30 pm Scorecard
Dec 7 – Maldives V Bhutan – 12:30 pm Scorecard
Dec 9 – Bronze Medal Match – Maldives V Nepal – 10:30 am Scorecard
Dec 10 – Gold Medal Match – Sri Lanka V Bangladesh – 10:30 am Scorecard
Women’s T20 Cricket
All matches to be played at Rangshala Cricket Ground, Pokhara
Dec 2 – Nepal V Maldives – 10:15 am Scorecard
Dec 4 – Sri Lanka V Maldives – 12:15 pm Scorecard
Dec 5 – Bangladesh V Maldives – 10:15 am Scorecard
Dec 7 – 3rd Place v 4th Place – Nepal v Maldives – 10:15 am Scorecard
Dec 8 – FINAL 1st Place v 2nd Place – Sri Lanka v Bangladesh – 10:15 am Scorecard
December 4th 2019
Today saw the Maldives Women’s team pick up their first wickets in International cricket and they all improved their matchplay and gained valuable experience. Although they lost the match, they are learning with each ball.
In today Men’s T20 Match, Maldives list to Bangladesh U23’s by 109 runs. Initially, our bowlers and fielders pinned Bangladesh back to just a handful of runs per over until the experience and skill of the Bangladeshi’s, many of whom are already seasoned international players at the highest level, posted a reasonable target and then bowled skilfully to take all 10 Maldivian wickets.
Matches continue tomorrow when the Men take on Sri Lanka at 12:30pm with the women’s team starting in the morning at 10:15am against Bangladesh in their 3rd and final Group game.
December 5th 2019
Thursday saw both team in action again with the Men playing powerhouse Sri Lanka with a team full of up and coming Sri Lankan superstars. Batting first, our nearest neighbours lost 2 early wickets to the bowling of Leem and Azyan with the 3rd and 4th wickets falling to the spin of Rizan and captain Mahfooz.
Pick of the Lankan batsmen was Mendis with an unbeaten 102 from 54 balls with 10 boundaries and 3 maximums. Sri Lanka scored 192 for 4 wickets off their 20 Overs.
Both of the men’s matches so far, have seen the more experienced players of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka batting first. On each day, they played patiently for 10 Overs losing a couple of wickets and then having enough wickets remaining in the bag to really open up in the latter stages of the match. There is much our players can learn from observing these (many of whom are) professionals and how they approach matches.
In reply, after the 2nd over dismissal of opener Ivan, Rishwan opened up his artillery and fired 3 4s and 2 6s to a quickfire 29 runs off 23 balls. After Rishwan was gone, only Azzam and Hassan scored double figures as Maldives limped to a total of 94 runs losing 9 wickets.
Sri Lanka U23 won by 98 runs.
In Pokhara, the Women’s team played their 3rd and final group game against a very strong Bangladesh line-up of seasoned International cricketers. This was a game for all to remember as the ‘end-of-the-beginning’ for Maldives women’s cricket.
Just a few years ago, non of our players had played cricket before. Each of them has undergone a journey balancing school studies, jobs, facing negative social and peer pressure of playing cricket, and most of the squad only play 1 tournament per year. Despite these things, they are all brave to stand up, go out of their comfort zone and walk into the field in Nepal and face some of the best players the women’s game has ever seen.
At the end of these 3 group games, the players have achieved so many ‘firsts’ and we should applaud and recognise that they are the pioneers of women’s cricket in Maldives.
Where will we be in 10 or 20 years time? Wherever we are in terms of cricket, these girls will always be known as the FIRST players from Maldives.
December 6th 2019
The only match of today saw the Men’s Team face up to hosts Nepal in the 3rd of 4 group games. Winning the toss, the Nepal batsmen chose to bat first. Opening were former captain & Nepal cricket legend Paras along with current captain Gyanendra Malla – scoring 11 and 19. The Maldives bowlers took wickets regularly and it looked like they might pin the total to under 130. However, Karan cam in and blasted 40 runs off 16 balls to take the total to 163 for 7 wickets. Wickets fell to 4 of the 6 bowlers with three for Leem on T20i Debut, a brace for Ameel and one each for Adam and Mahfooz.
In reply, Rishwan moved up the order to open along with youngster Ivan. Both started well, restraining from whacking the ball and looked to protect their wickets. The Nepali bowlers had other ideas and bowled good line and length to force many of the Maldives batsmen into pressured shots as they took 6 wickets in the 20 Overs with the chasing team managing 79 runs – top scorer Azzam with 17.
Saturday sees Maldives play Bhutan in the last Group game of the tournament and a ‘must win’ for both teams as the winner will be in the Bronze Medal match on Monday.
The Maldives National Women’s Team will play in the Bronze Medal match in the South Asian Games Women’s T20 Cricket against Nepal on Saturday morning 10:15am live from Rangshala Cricket Ground, Pokhara.
December 7th
South Asian Games Men’s T20 Cricket – Group Game 4
Maldives v Bhutan
MALDIVES WON BY 8 WICKETS
A must win game for both teams today saw Maldives take the initiative and book a place in the Bronze Medal match in the Men’s T20 Cricket event at the 13th Asian Games held in Nepal.
Winning the toss, Maldives captain Mohamed Mahfooz chose to field first and some cool fielding and fast bowling took both Bhutanese openers for a duck each.
Bhutan captain Jigme Singye (40) and Jamtsho (19) rallied along with Tobgay (24) to bring the Bhutan total to 117 for 7 wickets. Hassan Ibrahim snatching 3 wickets and 1 each for Adam Nasif and Ibrahim Rizan.
In reply and chasing 118 to win, Maldives opened with Mohamed Rishwan and Ahmed Hassan. Rishwan, in the 4 games so far has not been able to showcase his talent in this tournament so far was LBW for 3.
This led Adam Nasif striding out to the middle and between him and Ahmed Hassan put on 62 for the 2nd wicket until the latter was bowled by Jigme Singye.
With 8 Overs remaining, it was Adam Nasif and Azyan Farhath that brought the victory home with them on 37* and 22*.
HE Minister of Youth Sports and Community Empowerment Ahmed Mahloof and CBM President Mohamed Aflah both present at the match today.
Maldives will look forward to a place in the Bronze Medal Match to be played on Monday. The Women’s team played their Bronze Medal match this morning losing again to hosts Nepal by 10 wickets.
December 9th
South Asian Games Men’s T20 Cricket –Bronze Medal Match
Maldives v Nepal
NEPAL WON BY 5 WICKETS
The Maldives Men’s National Cricket team lost today by 5 wickets against world number 12 team and host nation Nepal in the Bronze medal match of the South Asian Games Men’s T20 Cricket competition.
Nepal won the toss and chose to field first putting the Maldives openers, unchanged from the victory over Bhutan, Ahmed Hassan and Mohamed Rishwan into the middle. Rishwan made a good start firing 17 from 18 balls until he was clean bowled by Bhari. Ahmed Hassan followed him back to the pavilion in the next over for 6 runs.
A mini collapse happened at 35-3 with 3 wickets falling for 1 run until captain Mahfooz steadied the ship with 16 off 23 leaving Leem 19* and Ameel 13 to help Maldives reach a total of 94/9 off 20 Overs.
In reply, despite losing Paras Kadka in the 2nd over, Nepal built the victory foundations getting to 58/2 inside 10 Overs. However, Maldives were not finished there as a noticeably vocal field rallied for one more push for Bronze taking a further 3 wickets and it wasn’t until the 17th over that Paudel and Sarraf could reach the target of 95, finishing in 98/5. Adam Nasif was the pick of the Maldives bowlers with 3 wickets for 20 runs off his 4 overs.
