JEDDAH, 29 March — The inter-city matches between the regional cricket teams of the Kingdom began nearly 19 years ago.
The following is a brief history of the inter-city matches:
1982-83: JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (EPCA won); 1983-84: EPCA vs. JCL in Jeddah (JCL won); 1984-85: JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (drawn) 2 innings match Jeddah retained the trophy because of first innings lead.
In 1985-86: (no play); 1986-87 EPCA vs. JCL in Jeddah (JCL won); 1987-88: JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (drawn) 2 innings match Jeddah retained the trophy because of first innings lead.
In 1988-89: (no match); 1989-90: (no match); 1990-91: (no match); 1991-92: (no match); 1992-93; JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (EPCA won); 1993-94: EPCA vs. JCL in Jeddah (EPCA won); 1994-95: JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (EPCA won); 1995-96: (no match); 1996-97 (no match because of duststorm); 1997-98: EPCA vs. JCL in Jeddah (JCL won); 1998-99: JCL vs. EPCA in Dammam (EPCA won; 1999-2000: EPCA vs. JCL in Jeddah (JCL won). Mega event in Jeddah on April 20, 2000. Jeddah played four inter-city matches on the same day against EPCA, Riyadh, Madinah and Yanbu in which JCL won 3 and lost one to Riyadh by 2 runs.
Memorable victory against EPCA by the biggest margin in the history of inter-city matches. Jeddah scored 427/4 and EPCA scored 278 all out. This was the only inter-city match between in which the two JCL players scored centuries in the same innings. In 2000-01: (no match); 2001-02 JCL vs. EPCA playing in Dammam.
Running trophy holder: JCL — 1984-1993, 9 years; 1998-1999, 1 year; 2000-todate, 2 years. EPCA — 1983-1984, 1 year; 1993-1998, 5 years, 1999-2000, 1 year.
Standings: JCL (played 11, won 4, drawn 2, lost 5, points 22); EPCA (played 11, won 5, drawn 2, lost 4, points 20).
JCL was outplayed in both matches but on the basis of first innings lead, JCL retained the trophy on both occasions. Two days were not sufficient to complete two innings matches. Therefore, two innings matches were abandoned and reverted to one-day 40 overs match.
