Captains of Participating Teams Ready for the ACC Men’s U16 East Zone Cup

The official Twitter handle of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) has come up with a picture of the captains of the seven participating teams in the Men’s U16 East Zone Cup. “The captains of the 7 participating teams are ready for the highly anticipated ACC Men’s U16 East Zone Cup starting tomorrow in Malaysia! Best wishes to all teams,” the caption read. The sides that will feature in the competition are- Nepal, Singapore, Hong Kong, Maldives, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. The tournament is set to start from June 26. The Nepalese side is the current defending champions, having won the previous edition of the tournament held in Thailand in 2019.

In 2019, Nepal got the better of Malaysia by 59 runs in the final of the ACC U16 Eastern Region competition. The summit clash was played at the Prem Tinsulanonda International School ground in Thailand.

Winning the toss, Nepal decided to bat first. They went on to score a total of 140 runs in 35 overs losing nine wickets. Prashant Mahat scored 40 runs off 67 balls, hitting five boundaries. With Deepak Bohora’s contribution of 23 runs, Nepal were able to post a competitive total. Sachinu Hettige produced a phenomenal bowling performance, dismissing three Nepal batters in his seven overs.

Malaysia did not enjoy a good start to their run chase, having lost half their squad scoring 37 runs in 15 overs. Muhammad Haziq Aiman’s 18 runs and Jinendra Muraly’s 14 runs saved some of their skin but the entire Malaysian side collapsed scoring just 81 runs. The Nepalese bowling unit enjoyed a brilliant outing with Bishal Kumar Patel and Deepak Bohora picking up a combined seven wickets in the game. Patel displayed a dominant performance dismissing four Malaysia batters.

Plans for the next edition of the ACC Men’s U16 East Zone Cup were temporarily halted due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The U-16 pathway program was resurrected to strengthen the roots of youth cricket in East Asian countries. The league has been split into two groups. Group A includes Nepal, Malaysia and Thailand and the other group features Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia and the Maldives.

Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Nepal are the only teams who have announced their squads so far.