St Joseph's emerge champions

St Joseph's Boys High School, winners of the KSCA Cup Group I Division I under-16 tournament. STANDING (L-R): Manish M, Rohan Reddy, Amey VH, Aldrin R, Jatin R, Vinith K, Priyal Singh, Varun Gaadi, Siddharth T, Sammon Ali. SITTING: Norman B, Arsalaan M, Ashwin S, Rev Fr Clifford Sequira (principal), SP Mehaboob (coach), Steve Wills, Vinoy S, Aditya Dayanand. KNEELING: Shahank Lokre, Kaustub N, Dhruv P, Shivam MB, Aanshul U, Arjun Nair, Aditya Rao.

Arsalaan M and Abhishek Pratap scored centuries but only the former ended up having a celebratory evening as St Joseph's Boys High School emerged champions in the KSCA Cup Group I, Division I under-16 inter-school tournament.

In a well-contested final at the KSCA (T) ground, St Joseph's drew with Holy Saint English School but the Josephites were declared winners, thanks to the first innings lead.

Arsalaan led St Joseph's batting display with a 211-ball 176, a knock that was studded with 21 boundaries and a six. With Aditya Dayanand scoring an exact half-century and Amey VH hitting 45, St Joseph's posted 395 all out in 100 overs.

Abhishek, hammering a 195-ball 181 (23x4, 1x6), gave hope for Holy Saint lads but with wickets tumbling at the other end, they could only reach 333 all out in 90 overs. Priyal Singh was the main wicket-taker with 4/70 while Arsalaan shone with the ball too, grabbing 3/66.

With time running out for the second innings to start in the two-day game, the match ended in a draw, with St Joseph's being declared the winner.

Brief scores: St Joseph’s Boys High School: 395 all out in 100 overs (Ashwin S 26, Arsalaan M 176, Aditya Dayanand 50, Amey VH 45, Priyal Singh 38; Vikram Kumar 5-80, Abhishek Pratap 2-53) drew with Holy Saint English School: 333 all out in 90 overs (Ayushman BA 78, Abhishek Pratap 181; Priyal Singh 4-70, Arsalaan M 3-66).