by: Dr. Sayed Ziauddin
JEDDAH: WPCA Cricket in the 9th-week Phase 2 matches took place last Friday with slightly altered weather in the Morning Session as there was high velocity chilled wind in the Afternoon Session which worsened after the Sunset. % matches in the Morning Prime Group as AEC defeated Bupa CC, Markhor had the last laugh against Apex with Raqeeb making 75 Shafaqat grabbing 4 wkts, Super CC thrashed Arcoma with only Yasar mercilessly carnaging the bowlers through his innings of unbeaten 132 off just 52 balls, Al Saudi Xi went down to Young Strikers and TMCC and Sadafco match ended on a TIE with a dispute arose due to improper scoring. Altaf of TMCC scored 73.
Shahnawaz Khan of Bupa hit 83 but could not win for his team. In the Morning Blue Group Bupa Arabians prevailed over AWCC thanks to Waseem stroking 90 in 51 balls while Nadeem of Nadeem XI played scintillating innings of 98 off 40 balls to win over NNG, Sialkot Shaheen was too strong for Cascade Group as majid hammered 90 off 46 balls whereas Ali Dawood played a classical inning of 97 while Rashid with unbeaten 52 and 4 for 9 of Arbros downed Landmark Arabians.
MORNING DIVISION: MORNING PRIME:
Match # 28 MP: Bupa XI asked to bat first by the opponents could get to 161 for 5 in allotted 20 overs on Ground # 3. After early jolts, Bupa reduced to 19 for 2 in the 5th over Shahnawaz Khan slammed unbeaten 83 in 58 balls with 8 fours and a six as he added 112 in 79 balls for the 3rd wkt with Wasim Mehar who hit 52 in 42 balls with the help of 4 fours and a six. Once this pair was broken in the 16th over, the batters to follow could not do much to be restricted to 161 for 5. Waqas had 2 wkts.
AEC in chase reached the victory target of 163 for 4 in 112 balls to win by 6 wkts with 8 balls to remain. Abdulrehman scored 20 in 15 balls as he added 54 in 37 balls for the opening stand with Amanat who made 24 in 26 balls with 3 fours. Babar Ali was run out for 43 in 33 balls with 2 fours as he stitched 68 in 47 balls for the 4th wkt with Tariq Chandio who made 40 in 25 balls with 7 hits to the fence. Sohail remained unbeaten on 10.
Match # 29 MP: Markhor XI opting to bat first against Apex Freight racked up 211 for 6 in allotted 20 overs on Ground # 7. Farhan coming as an opener hit 41 in just 16 balls studded with 9 fours as he added 73 in 29 balls for the first wkt with Raqeeb who excelled with 75 in 39 balls with 5 sixes and 5 fours. Once this pair was broken at 73 for 1 they lost wkts rapidly to be reduced to 104 for 4. Later in the innings, Shafaqat hit 50 in 30 balls with the help of 2 sixes and 3 fours to first add 52 in 33 balls for the 5th wkt to get to 156 and then 52 for the 6th wkt in 28 balls to get to 211 as Tayyab remained unbeaten on 19. Saeed had 2 wkts to his name. Apex Freight in response to 212 to win was bowled out for 161 to lose by 50 runs.
Openers batted well to put up 63 in 28 balls for the first wkt with Mohammed Naeem making 12 and Mohammed Suleman 46 in just 16 balls with 2 sixes and 8 fours to get to 63 for 1 in the 5th over. It was definitely a good score but once the openers were separated they lost 3 more wkts to be reduced to 64 for 4 in the 6th over thereby losing all the advantages they gained in the first 5 overs. Rizwan coming at # 4 contributed 38 in 27 balls with 4 fours as he added 75 in 51 balls for the 5th wkt with Asif who hit 3 fours and 2 sixes to compile 36 in 23 balls to get to 139 for 5 in the 14th over still needing 73 runs in 6 overs with 4 wkts in hand. From 139 for 6 Apex lost the last 4 wkts for just 22 runs to be restricted to 161. Shafaqat bowled well for his 4 wkts for 17 and Mohammed Asif 3 for 25 to be among the wkts.
Match # 30 MP: Arcoma decided to bat first against Super CC after winning the toss to get to 157 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs. After initial drawbacks with 2 quick wkts Shareefuddin hit the highest of 44 in 40 balls with 6 hits to the ropes as he first added28 for the 3rd wkt with Ismail Ishaq (12) and then 40 for the 4th wkt with Shahed (15).Nabeel then stroked unbeaten 20 off 16 balls and Yusuf 23 in 14 balls to get to a reasonable 157 for 8 in the allotted 120 balls. Ali Rizwan, Yasir and Amer took 2 scalps each.
Super CC then chased the winning target of 161 in mere 72 balls with all the wkts intact to win by all 10 wkts as Yasar literally blasted and carnaged the bowling attack right from the word go to smashed unbeaten 132 in 52 balls studded with 10 sixes and 15 fours as his illustrious partner Sithik remained unbeaten on 14 off 23 balls with one four. One can see the way Yasar dominated the innings genuinely scoring more than 2.5 runs per ball and 15 runs per over. Can easily say it was just Yasar all around and Arcoma bowlers had no clue where and how to bowl him. But all credit to the tall and lanky Yasar for his carnaging innings and he was rightly applauded by the opponents at the end.
Match # 31 MP: Al Saudi XI opting to bat first against Young Striker was restricted to 130 for 7 in allotted 20 overs. Al Saudi XI lost wkts at regular intervals as Nadeem Saad made 10, Mazhar Abbasi 15, Rehan 23 in 32 balls, Farooq 16, Umar 11 and Asif unbeaten 25 in 20 balls for 3 fours. Fahad took 2 for 21. Young Strikers in chase achieved 134 for 4 in 99 balls to win by 6 wkts with 21 balls to spare. Sibtain Ali made 24 in 29 balls with 2 fours to add 58 in 50 balls for the opening stand with Tariq Siddiqui who made 37 in 28 balls with six and 3 fours.
Abdul-Rasheed remained unbeaten on 34 in 16 balls with 5 fours as Afzaal remained unbeaten on 17 off 5 balls with 2 sixes and a four. Shahid Latif hit 10. Mazhar Siddiqui took 3 for 33. Sadafco choosing to bat first after winning the toss amassed 198 for 9 in the allotted 20 overs against Transparent Mask CC. All the batters contributed runs but none went for big scores as Umair Syed hit 20 in 7 balls with 3 fours and a six, Mohammed Asim hit 3 fours to compile 23 in 16 balls, Ahmed Mugheri stroked 23 in 17 balls with 4 fours, Waqar Malik 23 in 16 balls, Nazim Rana run out for 24 off 18 balls, Jibran 16 and Faisal Patel 14. Altaf Hussain grabbed 3 for 30 as Sufiyan Arif and Naweed 2 each.
Transparent Mask CC in reply was able to reach the tally of 198 for 7 in stipulated 20 overs to equal the scores. Altaf top-scored with 73 in 40 balls with 4 sixes and 4 fours as he added 120 in 70 balls for the 4th wkt with Saeed who made 42 in 29 balls with 4 fours and a six after they were reduced to 46 for 3 with Mehmood Tahir (20) and Ali Ansar (23) were the scorers. Sufiyan Arif made 14 to reach the scores to equal the score to TIE the match.
Umair Saeed and Jibran took 2 wkts each. The Official Umpires declared the match as a TIE match but a dispute arose due to the errors in the Score sheets in regards to the scores and the Scorer although had ensured the correctness of the total scores but defaulted while missing out on writing the actual runs to fall short of 19 runs. Official Umpires were of the opinion that although the total batters’ scores were not matching with the crossed scores the Scores were tallied by the opponents over after overs and were satisfied with the tally but had confusion with the unwritten runs. The Result of the match has been referred to the Tournament Technical Committee to assess. However, Official Umpires have already declared the Match as TIE.
MORNING BLUE:
Match # 29 MB: Bupa Arabians decided to bat first after winning the toss hammered huge 213 for 7 in allotted 20 overs on ground # 2 against AWCC. Waseem smashed 90 in 51 balls studded with 12 fours and a six as he first added 102 runs in 52 balls for the first wkt with Siam (32 in 1`7 balls with 2 sixes and a four) and then 47 for the 4th wkt with Afreed who contributed 25 in 17 balls with 2 fours.
Faizan was run out for 25 and Abdulrauf made 16 to get to a huge 213 in 120 balls. Abdulrehman scalped 3 for 29. AWCC was restricted to 158 for 8 to lose the match against Bupa Arabians by 55 runs. Asif was the highest scorer for AWCC with 60 in 35 balls studded with 10 hits to the ropes, Waseem 24 in 18 balls with 3 fours, Adnan 14, Ataullah 12 while Mohsin and Mudassar each had identical 11 not out. Siyam scalped 3 for 27 and Shahul 2.
Match # 30 MB: Nadeem XI choosing to bat first against NNG plundered a massive 237 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs on Ground # 9. Skipper Nadeem emerged the star batter for his team with a huge 98 off 40 balls studded with 5 sixes and 10 fours as he got fifty took 23 balls and stitched huge 166 in79 balls for the first wkt with Khalid who stroked 57 in 40 balls with 7 hits to the ropes.
Intekhab then stroked unbeaten 34 in 20 balls with 4 fours while Altaf 14 with 2 sixes. Shehzad and Imad had 2 wkts each. NNG chasing a mammoth target batted well but then to score at a rate of 11.9 runs per over was a tall order and so NNG could achieve 175 to lose by 62 runs at the end. M. Sufiyan made 40 in 21 balls with 3 fours and a six, M. Shahzad 27 in 20 balls with 3 fours, Mohteram Afzal 23 in 11 balls with 2 fours and a six and Tahir 16. Subhan was the pick of the bowlers with 3 for 18, Saboor and Moosa 2 each.
Match # 31 MB: Sialkot Shahin deciding to bat against Cascade plundered runs to the tally of 221 for 5 in allotted 20 overs on Ground # 8. Majid batted magnificently for his 90 in 46 balls with 13 fours and 2 sixes as he first added 47 runs for the first wkt with his co opener Yassir (14) and then 54 for the 2nd wkt with Shahzad who made 30 in 21 balls with 5 fours and 55 for the 3rd wkt with Rao Aslem 30 in 14 balls with 5 fours. Shafiq entering at #5 hit 44 in 16 balls studded with 5 fours and a six.
Hammad had 2 wkts to his name.
Cascade Group in response following a big target of 222 was stranded at 181 for 7 in the stipulated 20 overs to lose by 40 runs. Yakhoub batted well for his 28 in 24 balls with 3 fours, Afroz 16, Irfan Ayazuddin 16, Javed Ahmed 16, Raja Naseer 29 and Mohammed 13 not out. None of the batters could play a long innings to be able to overpower the huge target. The need of the hour was one batter to resist long enough.
Match # 32: ARBROS opting to use the track first against Landmark Arabia racked up a huge 200 for 2 in allotted 20 overs on Ground # 6. Ali Dawood as usual went on with his stroke play to compile 97 in 62 balls with 10 hits to the ropes while Nasir Ali hit 4 fours and a six to get 40 off 26 and the two added 118 runs in 64 balls for the first wkt to provide with a scintillating start to their innings.
One down Rashid then remained unbeaten on 52 off 31 balls with 3 sixes and 3 fours as he added 75 in 54 balls for the 2nd wkt with Ali Dawood to get to mammoth 200. Landmark Arabia in reply was bundled out for just 107 to lose the encounter by big 93 runs. Urooj made 27 in 34 balls with 2 fours whereas none from the top batters could cross the double digits except Mudassar (12) and Hamza (13).
It was a pathetic batting display after their good performances last week. Landmark Arabians have been playing the game at WPCA long enough to start giving some good performances. But the way they are in the field, especially batting seems in disarray and will have to think positively and bring about a change for better-looking performances in the weeks to come. They need to improve drastically even in the Blue Group. Rashid claimed 4 wkts for 9 off his 3 overs as Roman 3 for 27 of his 3.3 overs.
AFTERNOON SESSION:
JEDDAH: In the Afternoon Session Karachi Warriors won against KKR thanks to Adnan making 73 and Riyasath with 52 and 4 wkts despite Shamsuddin of KKR hitting 94, Kazim Shah of Al Kabbani Cricket Group hit unbeaten 83 to down Al Hukamaa International and Ventilation World had the last laugh against FRC Planet Technology as Qasim of Ventilation World made 72. In the Premier Prime Group Zultec won against IsDB Group, Nesma Airlines after being on the back foot initially defeated Toys R Us Play Makers and Stallions Air homes chasing 157 against Lothers tied the match on Ground # 9.
AFTERNOON BLUE:
Match # 24 A: Karachi Warriors decided to bat first after winning the toss against KKR on Ground # 4 to amass 208 for 2 in the allotted 18 overs. Adnan Sialkot blasted 113 in 59 balls studded with 9 fours and 7 sixes, as his fifty came in 30 balls and his hundred in 51 balls and he added 173 runs in 100 balls for the opening stand with Riyasath who made 52 in 39 balls with 2 fours and a six. Imran remained unbeaten on 29 off just 8 balls and Ali Mudassir 4 not out. Both the wkts to fall went to Shabeer.
KKR responded with 192 to lose by 16 runs. Shamsuddin blasted 94 in 39 balls with 4 sixes and 9 fours as his fifty took 19 balls whereas he stitched 125 in 60 balls for the openings and with Safeer who made 30 in 24 balls. Shabeer scored 24 in 13 balls with 3 sixes as none other could touch the ten-digit mark to fall short by 16 runs at the end. Riyasath grabbed 4 wkts for 31, Adnan 3 for 40 and Imran 3 for 35.
Match # 25 A: Al Hukamaa International asked to bat first by Al Kabbani Cricket Group on Ground # 1 could manage 165 for 6 in allotted 18 overs. Sohail hit 50 in 36 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours as he added 121 in 71 balls for the first wkt with Skipper Farhan who made 47 in 32 balls with six and 4 fours. Al Hukamaa is in a strong position at 121 for no loss in the 12 the over should have touched at least 180 or 190 but apart from the openers, none could stay at the crease to be stranded at 165 for 6. Salman made 12 and Khurram 11.
Imran claimed 2 wkts. Al Kabbani cricket Group in chase reached 167 for 3 to win against Al Hukamaa International to win by 7 wkts in 91 balls to remain with 17 balls. Kazim Shah hammered unbeaten 83 in 39 balls with 4 sixes and 9 fours as he added 40 for the first wkt with Imran Qaiser who scored 22 in 14 balls with 4 hits to the ropes and then 82 in 52 balls for the 3rd wkt with Abdullah Bhatti who made 42 in 32 balls to get the victory target. Salman grabbed 2 wkts.
Match 26 A: Ventilation World against FRC Planet Technology piled up 188 for 6 in allotted 18 overs on Ground # 2. Qasim smashed 72 in 36 balls with 6 sixes and 3 fours as he added 79 runs in 43 balls for the 3rd wkt with Sameer (10) after they were 27 for 2 with Bilal and Azeem going cheaply. Zulqarnain entering the crease late in the order hit 62 in 33 balls with 10 boundaries to take the tally to impressive 188 for 6.
Anas and Afzal were among the wkts with 2 each. FRC Planet Technology in reply chasing almost 10.05 runs per over was restricted to 105 for 8 in stipulated 18 overs to lose by huge 83 runs. None from their batters could stand upto some accurate bowling with Anas making 16, Rafeeq, Jaber, Abdullah each one 15 runs to their names. Qasim and Inzamam scalped 2 wkts each.
PREMIER PRIME:
Match # 22 P: IsDB Group won the toss to elect to bat first against Zultec on Ground # 8 scored 153 for 9 in allotted 18 overs. Noor butt who made 25 in 16 balls with 2 fours started well as an opener to add 77 in 33 balls for the first wkt with Waqas who hit 3 fours and 2 sixes to compile 35 in 15 balls. But once the openers were sent back it was again the same old story of regular wkts to get stranded at 153 for 9 as onlt the double digit achievers after the openers were Waqas Butt (19) and Lateef (13).
Zeeshan grabbed 4 wkts for 28, Javed Iqbal and Usman Gulab 2 wkts each.nZultec in chase reached the winning target of 154 for 2 in 78 balls to win by 8 wkts with 30 balls to spare. Waqar Ul Hasan remained unbeaten on 54 off 30 balls with 8 hits to the ropes to add first 76 in 41 balls for the opening stand with Omair Ali Khan who made 39 in 24 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours and then 56 in 24 balls for the 2nd wkt with Usman gulab who stroked 38 in 15 balls with a six and 5 fours. Javed Iqbal remained unbeaten on 16 off 9 with 3 hits to the fence.
Match 3 23 P: Nesma Airlines opting to use the track first on ground # 7 against Toys R Us Play Makers piled up 182 for 6 in allotted 18 overs. Atif top scored with 65 in 22 balls studded with 6 sixes and 4 fours while Khawar Zafar made 29 in 21 balls with 2 sixes and a four, Rana Abrar 29 in 27 balls with 3 fours, Fahad Butt 17 in 11 balls as Shahzad Bhatti unbeaten 25 in 7 balls with 3 fours and a six. Abdullah Essa grabbed 3 for 34.
Toys R Us Play Makers then chasing a target requiring more than 10 runs per over was stranded at 170 for 8 in the stipulated 18 overs after a solid start given by the openers including Abdullah Essa 64 in 39 balls with 10 fours and a six and Kokhar making 40 in 29 balls with a six and 4 fours to get to impressive 101 in 64 balls for the first wkt in the 10th over requiring another 80 odd runs in 8 overs but then the batters to follow could not get into the tens except Zaka making 21 in 11 balls with 3 fours, Murali 12 and Ramazan 11 to lose by 12 runs at the end. Mohammed took 3 for 33, Imran Yusuf and Saeed ul 2 wkts each.
Match # 24 P: In the last match of the day on ground # 9 Lothers asked to bat by the opponents Stallions Air Homes slammed 156 for 6 in allotted 18 overs. Both the Lother openers departed early at 26 for 2 with prolific Abdulwahid making 15 and Waqas Ali (4). Then Ibrar ul Haq hit 31 in 11 balls with 3 sixes and 2 fours to add for the 3rd wkt with Iftikhar who made 22 in 33 balls. Saifuddin then stroked 26 in 28 balls and Ruksad unbeaten on 24 off 13 balls to add 44 runs for the 4th wkt on the way to 156.
AbdulBasith took 2 wkts in the process. Stallions Air Homes in chase too confident to overpower the target could managed to TIE the match to be stranded at 156 for 6 in stipulated 18 overs. Faiz who hammered 50 in 49 balls with 3 fours and a six added 54 runs for the 2nd wkt with Hassan Ali who made 33 in 18 balls with 6 hits to the ropes. It was quite healthy score of 82 for 1 in the 9th over requiring 75 runs in 10 overs with 9 wkts in hand. Later in the day Aqeel Malik scored 12, Jahanzeb 10 and Sohail 21 in 14 balls with 3 fours. Abrar ul Haq and Saleem had 2 scalps each.
