JEDDAH, 3 May — Al Rabea Pulz will sponsor Jeddah Cricket League’s Premier Division for the first time. This was announced by Al Rabea Foods Marketing Manager, Mohammed Akbar Khan. He stressed the company’s policy of promoting and encouraging sports in general and cricket in particular. According to Akbar the game of cricket needs to be encouraged and promoted among Saudis and expatriates and it is with this in mind that the company has embarked upon this mission of supporting Jeddah Cricket League. They are pretty confident that their new product "Pulz" will be successful and will compete with competitor’s products.
Al Rabea Foods have also fielded their team in JCL for the last 2 years. Akbar himself is a keen cricketer and has played in JCL for many years. The first week matches of Al Rabea’s League was inaugurated by Akbar himself at the JCL Complex. This year the Al Rabea Pulz Premier Division League will be spread over 12 weeks. There are 9 teams participating in it and will play each other on a round robin league basis with top 4 teams playing the knock-out for the winners and runners-up position.
Toshiba open account in Al Rabea Pulz League
Toshiba opened their account in the inaugural week of the Al Rabea Pulz Premier Division League organized by JCL defeating Young Athlete by 7 wickets.
Elsewhere, Mahmood Saeed started on a winning note with a 62 runs win over Traco and Zuheir Zahran overcame a challenge defeating IDB by 25 runs.
Young Athlete were restricted to a modest score of 235 by Toshiba thanks to some intelligent bowling by Munawar and Shabeer who picked by 3 wickets each for 40 and 48 runs respectively whereas Mushtaq chipped in with 2 for 37. In reply, Toshiba openers started well with Usman (36) and Nasir (30) giving them the start they required. Later Ahmad (32) and Munawar (55) consolidated the innings to take their team past the 200 mark but thereafter lost few quick wickets as Humayun (3 for 34) and Shaukat (2 for 45) threatened to run through the lower order. But Mushtaq kept his cool and batted sensibly at one end to remain unbeaten on 40 and guide his team to a 3 wicket win at 236 for 7 in 33.4 overs.
Mahmood Saeed coast to an easy win against Traco
Mahmood Saeed put up a massive score of 316 for 3 as their batsmen went on rampage from the word go. Irfan and Tariq (22) led the onslaught with 53 for the 1st wicket before the latter was out. Irfan and Asgar batted superbly and posted 132 runs partnership for the 2nd wicket. Irfan left after scoring 59 with 7 hits to the fence. From there on it was Asgar all the way as he pierced the field with some elegant strokes. He put on 73 runs with Salim Nahdi (33) and 111 runs for the unfinished 4th wicket with Wajahat who scored an unbeaten 69 runs with 8 fours and a six. Asgar reached his century with a fluent drive and remained unbeaten on 105 with 9 fours. Azeem picked up 2 for 43 as Mahmood Saeed ended at 316 for 3 in 35 overs. In reply, Traco were restricted to 254 with Azeem playing a lone innings scoring a superb 110 runs. He batted with authority and power hitting 3 sixes and 7 fours in his aggressive innings. However, with lack of support from others, Traco folded up for 254 to give Mahmood Saeed a 62 runs win.Zuhair Zahran cruise past IDB
Zuhair Zahran after being runners-up in the Kanoo League (Division 1) decided to enter the Premier Division once again and began on a winning note with a 5 wickets win over IDB. The latter scored 212 for the loss of 7 wickets. Abdullah continued his good form of the previous league as he raced to his customary half century but was soon dismissed for 58 runs. Faiz (20), Zain (37), Sharif (37) and Jawad (22) propped up the middle order as Ibrahim took 3 for 42. In reply, Zuhair Zahran knocked off the runs in only 29.2 overs scoring 213 for 5. Leading the run chase were opener’s Kaleem (30) and Zafar who scored a quick 50 before being run-out. Rashid Malik scored a fluent 56 and skipper Harron remained unbeaten with 44 to guide his team to an easy win by 5 wickets
