Jain Heritage School U-14 cricket team was invited to participate in the PEACE CUP organized by YMCA Cricket Academy, Bangalore from 11^th Dec to 17^th Dec 2009 at YMCA Ground.

In the first match on 15^th Dec 2009 JHS played against Bhopal Cricket Academy. Bhopal Cricket Academy won the toss and elected to bat. The openers gave a flying start adding 40 runs in the first four overs. JHS new ball bowlers were not consistent in line and length. Once the spinners came on the scoring rate dropped and wickets started falling at regular intervals. The spinners Vishak Rao, Dixit and Shashi Prasad bowled very well restricting the opponent’s score to 122 in the allotted 20 overs. Vishak Rao was the top wicket taker with 3 wickets. Shashi claimed two and Rishabh and Shivaprasad one each.

In reply JHS started on a positive note. The openers Vedant and Rishabh gave a flying start scoring 33 runs in the first three overs. But in the fourth over Rishabh was dismissed playing a rash stroke.  Next batsman Abijit and Vedant consolidated the innings and JHS was well on course of surpassing the opponents score. Vedant was looking good for a half century but a poor shot cost him the wicket. He scored 34 runs. Then Abhijit and Vishak Rao made sure that there were no more hiccups before achieving the target with a good partnership. Abhijit remained not out on 33 runs.

On the whole it was a satisfying performance by the team and the team played liked a unit. It was a good all round cricket by the boys. The bowlers bowled to a good line and were getting wickets at regular intervals. The fielding was sharp but catching needs to improve. The batting was good but they need to work on their techniques to play against better bowling sides.

Results: JHS beat Bhopal Cricket Academy
Bhopal Cricket Academy: 122 all out in 19.2 overs
Sandesh 38 (6 fours), Vishak Rao 3 for 21,
Shashiprasad 2 for 7, Rishab Rai 1 for 18, Shivaprasad 1 for 16

JHS: 126 for 2 wickets in 16 overs
Vedant Khemka 34(3 fours), Abhijit 33 n.o (3 fours)

JHS team played against Bhopal Cricket Academy

JHS played the second match against NCC, Srilanka on 16^th Dec 2009. NCC won the toss and elected to bat. They started the innings on a sedate note against some good accurate bowling by our new ball bowlers Akshay and Shiva Prasad. Akshay got rid of one of the opening batsmen. Later on once the spinners came on NCC found very difficult to score runs and lost wickets at regular intervals. NCC middle order batsman Shanak was the only one to be positive and smashed the ball to all parts of the ground. He scored a brilliant 54 runs with help of 5 fours and a massive six, the only six of the tournament. Apart from him other batsmen did not have a clue against some superb bowling by the JHS bowlers. Dixit was the best bowler taking three wickets and Vishak Rao chipped in with two wickets. NCC finished at 108 for the loss of six wickets in the allotted 20 overs.

JHS started disastrously losing the first wicket of Vedant in the very first over. That is the beginning of the end. None of the batsmen were able to stand against some fast bowling by the Srilankans. It was the first time that our batsmen came across such bowling. It was a big experience. Only Rishab tried to battle it out. He could not continue for long and lost his wicket. JHS were all out for a meager 72 runs in the sixteenth over and lost the match by 36 runs.

It was a good experience playing against a foreign team. The bowlers did an excellent job with good support from the fielders and restricting the team to a low score. The opponents bowling was good but the batsmen should have applied themselves and stayed at the crease rather than throwing away their wickets. Their techniques were exposed and need to work on that by using effective batting drills.

Results: JHS lost to National Cricket Club, Srilanka

National Cricket Club:  108 for 6 wickets in 20 overs
Shanak 54 n.o (5 fours, 1 six), Vishak Rao 2 for 30,
Dixit Patel 3 for 14, Akshay 1 for 12,  

JHS: 72 all out in 16 overs
Rishabh Rai 27 (3 fours)

JHS team played against NCC, Srilanka