The Cricket Board of Maldives welcomed the Senior Cricketers Club Maldives to Fuvahmulah City for their annual tour that took place over the weekend.
The playing part of the tour got underway on Friday with a match against a Fuvahmulah Men’s XI at Fuvahmulah Cricket Ground.
Batting first, the veterans reached 159 total for the loss of 4 wickets. Moosa Kaleem once again Not-Out, this year with 39 runs from 49 balls; supported well by Ali Azim with 27, Nazmi Jaleel with 16 and a quick-fire 10 from 5 balls by Ahmed Hussain.
2 wickets fell to youngster Mohamed Haikal as he continues to improve his all-round game month by month. Hassan Mutheeu and AlAmin bagged a wicket each.
In reply, the Fuvahmulah XI opening partners made a steady start with Riyaz Rasheed picking his shots to score boundaries and Azin Rafeeq rotating the strike.
After Azin was out for 13 and Riyaz for 23, wickets fell at regular intervals until a late rally by Joi with 24 and Hassan Mutheeu with 15 from 16 balls gave a flicker of hope near the end of the innings as they finished 37 runs short.
Wickets were snaffled by Mohamed Saeed, Hassan Waheed and Mohamed Shahid – each with 1 and a brace each for Ismail Nihad and Ismail Anil.
The Cricket Board of Maldives wishes to thank the Senior Crickets Club Maldives for their support to cricket development in Fuvahmulah City.
Visits from cricket teams such as this are an important part of cricket growth outside of Greater Malé. The local batch of juniors and seniors can learn much from the years of match play experience that the Senior Cricketers Club have.
In addition, having the chance to play against different teams and players with high level skill sets can only be a catalyst for improvement.
In the past, the SCC members have invested in the construction of the scoreboard and cricket ground warehouse, donated kit and equipment, and importantly have been valuable ears for advice and ideas with regards to all-round cricket development.
The Tour continued with a friendly T20 match on Saturday morning with two teams made from those present.
Ahmed Hussain and Ali Azim scored 50s for their respective teams as Team A defended their total of 160 winning by 23 runs.
The Cricket Board of Maldives looks forward to others visits to Fuvahmulah City in the future.
