BAHRAIN’S Under-16 cricket team will play a practice match against a local cricket academy team in Sharjah today in preparation for their upcoming games against the UAE U16 side next week.
“We will play two matches against the UAE U16 team on Monday and Wednesday,” Bahrain U16 head coach Azeem-ul-Haque told the GDN by phone from Ajman.
“Today’s game against the Simply Cricket Academy’s U16 team will allow our players the chance to get some valuable match practice. We have a good mix in our 14-member squad with some good batsmen, some talented all-rounders, versatile spin bowlers and our pace attack is pretty good too.”
Haque, who is also the Bahrain Cricket Federation’s (BCF) national coach and game development manager, added that the week-long tour of the UAE was intended to allow the young players to get some much-needed exposure and experience before they play in Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council (ICC) events in the first quarter of 2023.
“They’ve already been performing well,” he explained. “A few months ago, we took them to Singapore and Chennai for some practice games. Their skill levels are very good and they’ve been training hard.
“They’re a really talented bunch with five of them having already played for the national U19 team, despite still being so young. We’re hoping that this tour will help them get ready for the upcoming ACC and ICC tournaments where we think they’re likely to do well against different countries and, hopefully, reach the last-four stage or, possibly, even the final of one of them.”
The Bahrain team will play two more practice matches against academy sides with one, against the Sharjah Cricket Academy’s U16 team, scheduled for tomorrow and the second, against the Ace Cricket Academy U16 team, taking place on Thursday.
All the matches will be 35 overs-a-side and, barring the first game today, will be played at two cricket grounds in Ajman.
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