The inaugural edition of the Women’s Indoor Bash was successfully concluded at the Oman Cricket Academy’s indoor arena on a high with a display of fierce competitive spirits. The T10 tournament organized by Oman Cricket (OC) had 9 players feature on each side and of the 7 teams competing, the Pitch Smashers got the title glory.
The round-robin format saw each team play two matches each in the league stage and the top 4 namely Pitch Smashers, Phoenix, Pakistan School Muscat Women and Globetrotters advanced to the playoff stage leaving behind Indian School Wadi Kabir (ISWK) Women, Bangladesh Cricket Club Women and The Dromans.
The Qualifier 1 that was played between the top two teams in the league stage saw Phoenix and Pitch Smashers lock horns. The latter had Nitya finish unbeaten on the score of 31 which got her team to finish on 69/1 in 10 overs and the Phoenix had Geetha Jagdish with the only wicket finish on figures of 1-7. The Smashers rolled in with a ball and in 10-overs restricted Phoenix 5-down for only 30 runs as Afida 1-0 and Meera 2-2 register the best figures.
The Globetrotters with a defeat against Pakistan School Muscat were handed an elimination which meant, PSK met Phoenix in Qualifier 2. The game saw, Phoenix put on a fantastic batting display which was led by Geetha J who finished unbeaten on 31 and got her team to finish their 10 overs for 79/0. The PSM failed to outscore by a big margin as Fiza’s score of 19 was the highest the team got to in its 10 overs which saw them get to 34/4.
The final was a rematch from Qualifier 1 as Phoenix and Pitch Smashers locked horns. The Phoenix couldn’t put on a blistering batting display as the side were restricted to 49/3 in 10 overs and had Geetha J with 18 top score for the side. Pitch Smashers in reply comfortably got the required in 8.1 overs for the loss of two overs as it simply wasn’t meant to be for the Phoenix against the Smashers. Nayan top scored in the final with 19* and Phoenix had Amanda D’Costa with best figures of 1-5.
Phoenix’s Amanda D’Costa was declared the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament in presence of Saada al Ismaili, former Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) board member and Kiran Asher, OC board member who were the guests of honour and presented the trophies, cash awards and individual prizes. Maryam al Hosni, a representative from the Ministry of Education and member of the Oman School Sports Association and Duleep Mendis, OC’s chief development officer were also present at the venue.
Vaishali Jesrani, OC’s women coordinator and advisor on the success of the tournament said, “This was a new concept launched by us. We are very happy to have received such an encouraging response. The players, be it working women, schoolchildren and homemakers, were all part of the event and it was played in good spirit. It was heartening to see families turn up to cheer the women teams.”
Vaishali who has been spearheading women’s cricket for over a decade in Oman concluded by saying, “Oman Cricket is committed to promote women’s cricket and the new format was introduced to attract more players and showcase our world-class indoor facilities at the Oman Cricket Academy. We are thankful to all the participants, and we hope to bring more such events in the country.”
Quotes Source: TimesofOman