CHAMPIONS ONCE MORE: The jubilant SM Sains Kuching players with the coaches and officials celebrate their historic win at the end of the two-hour match against defending champion SMK Paku. SM Sains defeated their more experienced opponents by 16 runs in the final which lasted for two long hours. — Photo by Harry Ilias
KUCHING: SM Sains Kuching ended the four-year reign of SMK Paku in secondary school cricket when they upstaged the defending champions in the final of the MSSS Cricket Championship held at SK Gita 2 yesterday.
The determined bookworms defeated their more experienced opponents by 16 runs in the final which lasted for two long hours.
It also ended SM Sains’ 11-year wait to be crowned as the champions again and their cricketers played an excellent game by registering 58 runs in 19.3 overs against their opponents’ 42 runs in 14.3 overs.
Coming in third place were SMK Muara Tuang who beat SMK Seri Setia by four wickets.
SM Sains team manager Che Nazlie Che Mahmod was unable to express his joy over the achievement of his charges in the historic win.
“This is sweet success for us after trying for 11 years to win back the title again. The win is also very meaningful to our school and I believe that the parents of the players will also be proud of their achievement,” he said when met after the championship.
“Furthermore, we have succeeded in beating the defending champions SMK Paku who are a big name in cricket,” he added.
According to Che Nazlie, this win has also given a big dose of confidence to the young cricketers who will compete in the Sarawak, Sabah Labuan and Miri Zone Full Boarding Schools Cricket Championship to be held at SM Sains Miri from April 10-14. The winner of this event will represent East Malaysia at the upcoming national level championship to be held at SM Sultan Muhammad Jiwa in Kedah in May.
SM Sains won more honours when their players Aizad Hamizan Abdul Hamid and Muhamad Siddiq Bakar were named the Best Allrounder and Best Batsman respectively while Halison Beet and Erwan Yud from SMK Paku won the Best Bowler and Best Wicketkeeper awards respectively.
Eight schools namely SM Sains Kuching, SMK Seri Setia, SMK Agama SHOAW, Sekolah Seni Kuching, SMK Tunku Abdul Rahman, SMK Bako, SMK Paku and SMK Muara Tuang took part in the four-day championship.