ALKHOBAR — In the EPCA League sponsored by Khalifa Algosaibi Group, Alghamdi beat archrival AGE by 19 runs. Alghamdi won the toss and elected to bat first and put on 311 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 40 overs.
Thanks to openers Tariq Tanweer and Riaz Saeed both batted well and put on 115 runs partnership for the first wicket.
Dawood put some dent in Alghamdi’s charge when he caught and bowled Tariq Tanweer. Tariq scored 67 runs with the help of 7 boundaries. One-down Sadaqat joined Riaz and the pair added 44 more runs. Their partnership was broken when Sikandar Farooqi sent Riaz back to pavilion. Riaz scored a useful 70 runs which included 5 elegant boundaries. Soon Sadaqat departed after scoring 22 runs of the bowling of Dawood.
At this crucial stage Nasir joined Khawar Shahzad and both batted well consolidating their innings and put on 127 runs partnership for the 4th wicket. Khawar lost his wicket off the bowling of Nadeem after scoring a valuable 72 runs which was studded with 8 boundaries.
Nasir lost his wicket in a very unfortunate manner as he got run out for 52 in which he hit 7 superb boundaries. Sajjad remained unbeaten for 17. Dawood bowled well and took 2 wickets.
In another Premier Division match, Kanoo beat Saudi Pan Gulf (SPG) by 8 wickets. SPG batted first and scored 314 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. SPG lost their first wicket very early as Hamid Jameel was caught by Nawaz off the bowling of Naheed. Asif joined Talal and the pair batted superbly and took the score to 141 runs when Asif was caught behind off the bowling of Affaq. Soon Sadar departed LBW Affaq for 20. Amjad Butt joined Talal and they put on 96 runs partnership for the 4th wicket.
Talal batted superbly and scored yet another brilliant century 141 runs with the help of 8 hits to the fence and 2 towering sixes. Amjad Butt scored very useful 41 runs but at this stage Affaq struck twice and sent both the well set batsmen to the pavilion. Mahmood contributed unbeaten 23 runs. In reply to SPG big score, Kanoo started badly as their opener Zulfiqar Goga was caught behind off the bowling of Junaid for a duck and soon Ayub Khan departed after scoring 26 runs.
At this crucial stage of the match captain Iqbal Bali joined EPCA star all-rounder Munawwar and both of them batted just superbly played strokes in every corner of the field and took their team to a grand victory.
Munawwar Hussain was particularly in tremendous form. He scored a majestic unbeaten century of 186 runs which was studded with 14 magnificent boundaries. Iqbal Bali also showed his class as he also batted very well and remained unbeaten on 81 runs.
In another match, Saudi Valve Manufacturing (SVM) beat Youngsters by 72 runs. SVM batted first and scored 234 runs. Syed Amin batted well and scored 47 runs. Muhammad Ayub scored 45 valuable runs. David Rajkumar contributed 28 runs and Syed Abdul Ghafoor chipped in with quick 25 runs. Abdul Qayum bowled well and took 4 wickets for 41 runs and Abid, Adnan and Mohammed took two wickets each.
In reply, Youngsters were all out for 162 runs. Mohsin was top scorer with 42 runs and Adil scored 32 runs. Faisal and Unni bowled very well and claimed 2 wickets each and took their team to the second position of the first division league.
