RIYADH, 22 March — Manaret Al-Riyadh and PIS (ES) entered finals of U-17 and U-14 group in the Arab News/Power Horse inter-school cricket tournament by beating IISR Al-Momin School respectively at RCA grounds.
In U-17 group semifinals, Manaret Al-Riyadh scored 153 for 8 in allotted 20 overs. Saad Osman played well for MARS and scored 49 with the help of four boundaries. Other notable scorers were Waqas 27 and Abdullah 14. IISR’s Riaz bowled well and took 4 wickets conceding 30 runs. S. Gupta and Ranjeet chipped in with 2 and 1 wicket, respectively by giving away 11 and 18 runs. In reply, IISR started badly losing wickets at regular intervals. IISR prolific scorer J. Lohit and Abdul Razzak were associated in unbeaten 78 run partnership, which gave some respectability to the IISR score. J. Lohit played a brilliant knock and remained not out on 69 with 8 fours while Abdul Razzak made unbeaten 31. Riyaz Ahmed chipped in with 15 runs. IISR finished their stipulated 20 overs scoring 146 for 6 thus losing the match by 7 runs. Abdullah bowled well for MARS and took 3 wickets by giving away 27 runs. Saad, Hamza and Waqas took one wicket each conceding 33, 29 and 24 runs, respectively.
In U-14 group, PIS (ES) taking first strike, scored a respectable 180 for 7 in their stipulated 20 overs. Zain Tariq was top scorer with 56 runs (5 fours). The other scorers were Osama Haris 24 and Hassan Javed 25 n.o. For Al-Momin Osama, Faisal, Shahzaib and Adeel took 1 wicket each. Chasing the target, Al-Momin opening pair started slowly and were associated in 79 runs partnership for the first wicket. After them the later batsman could not capitalize as wickets fell at regular intervals and were all out for 159. For Al-Momin the main scorer’s were Shahzaib 37, Faisal 27, Adeel Rana 16, Hassan 15 and Haseeb 18. PIS (ES) Osama took 3 wickets, Omer took 2 wicket and Affan 1 wicket. Zain Tariq was later adjudged man-of the-match.
The other semifinal of U-17 & U-14 will be played on 2 March 28 and finals on March 29. Prize distribution ceremony will be held at the ground after the finals.
