JEDDAH, 30 November — Mohammed Irfan’s fine all-round performance led Mahmood Saeed’s assault over Saudia Milk with a stunning 31 runs win in the 4th week of the Kanoo League (Premier Division) organized by JCL. Elsewhere, Traco Green & Traco recorded emphatic wins over their opponents Toshiba and SGB Baroom by 9 and 6 wickets respectively.
The match of the week was Mahmood Saeed against defending champions Saudia Milk where the former laid low the latter by 31 runs. The architect of Mahmood Saeed’s win was Mohammed Irfan who first scored an elegant 74 runs and then went on to take 4 for 33 with his subtle leg spin. The opening pair of Mohammed Irfan and Kashif gave Mahmood Saeed the impetus they were looking for against the fancied Milkmen. The two went for the bowlers in the first 11 overs scoring 83 runs and then hoisted the century partnership in the 13th over. Irfan was the more severe as he lifted the bowlers for 4 huge sixes and clouted them for equal number of fours, their partnership finally ended at 129 with the departure of Kashif followed by Irfan in quick succession.
In the lower order only Aqueel managed to chip in with 25, the rest caved in to the guiles of Shaker (3 for 42), Ifthekhar (2 for 49), Imran (2 for 58) and Azam (2 for (49). In reply, Saudia Milk openers Javed (26) and Imran (47) put on 50 for the first wicket in 7 overs before Javed was out.
Imran and Saleem Nahdi (23) continued the good work till the score reached 96 but then Shahid (2 for 57) struck quick blows to reduce them to 121 for 4. Iftekhar (36) and Shaker (30) gave a good fight-back but then it was Irfan who struck four vital blows to end the Milkmen’s hope bundling them out for 221 runs. Irfan ended with figures of 4 for 33 to steal the show and give his team Mahmood Saeed a stunning win by 31 runs against title-holders Saudia Milk.
Toshiba were shot out for 173 by Traco Green whose bowlers, particularly the two Irfans who took 4 for 13 and 2 for 21 respectively, had a good feast. Only Asif (23), Mubashir (35) and Abbas (23) offered a fight-back, the rest succumbed to the pace and spin of Traco Green bowlers. In reply, Traco Green lost an early wicket but that was the only success Toshiba got as Shahzad and Baber the two prolific batsmen led their onslaught on the Toshiba bowlers, flogging them to every corner of the field and enabling their team to reach the target of 176 for the loss of only 1 wicket in 26 overs. Shahzad scored an unbeaten 98 and was unlucky to miss his century by a mere 2 runs; he hit 9 fours of 82 balls. Baber scored an unbeaten 44 runs with 3 fours, the two put on 147 runs for the unfinished 2nd wicket to give Traco Green a resounding 9-wicket win.
SGB Baroom despite losing an early wicket rallied as Shoaib and Tariq put on 106 runs for the 2nd wicket to give their team a good platform on which the latter batsmen could capitalize. Shoaib was the more aggressive as he raced to 93 (inclusive of 7 fours) and was unlucky to miss his century by 7 runs. Tariq scored an impressive 50 with 5 fours.
However, the latter batsmen barring Mudassir (26) could not capitalize much and SGB Baroom were restricted to 252 for 8. For Traco, Khalid Butt took 3 for 45 and as if that was not enough he continued his good prolific batting form stroking his way to yet another superb century. He kept one end up and with reasonably good support from the other batsmen brought his team closer to the target before he got out for a superb 112 runs of 97 balls with 9 fours and a six. Giving him support were Rashid (21), Fayyaz (44) and Azeem (35 N.O). Traco reached their target of 254 for 4 in 31.2 overs to garner an emphatic 6 wicket win.
