ALKHOBAR, 10 May — In the SVM Premier Division Knockout final Al Ghamdi outplayed SPG and won the tournament. Batting first, Al Ghamdi put on 290 runs but in the process they lost 8 wickets. Tariq Tanweer and Sadaqat opened the innings for Al Ghamdi but soon they lost their wickets. Sadaqat was caught behind in the fourth over off the bowling of Far Farhan for just 7 runs. Soon Riaz departed after scoring 19 run and then his brother Iqbal followed him to the pavilion after scoring 35 runs.

At this crucial stage of the match, EPCA star batsman Khawar Shahzad joined captain Tariq Tanweer and both batted with discipline and played classical cricket shots and laid the winning foundation for Al Ghamdi. Khawar lost his wicket after scoring a valuable 78 runs which included 5 hits to the fence smartly caught at the mid-wicket boundary by Tariq of the bowling of Farhan.

Farhan struck again and this time his victim was Tariq Tanweer who was looking well set for yet another century but he lost his concentration when he went for a big hit over mid-wicket and once again Tariq took a magnificent catch to send Tariq Tanweer back to pavilion. Tariq Tanweer scored 83 runs with the help of 7 beautiful boundaries. After Tariq’s departure wicket started falling quickly but Sajjad played a fine knock and scored a breezy 34 runs. After Sajjad’s departure Tariq ripped through the tail end and got 3 quick wickets.

In reply to Al Ghamdi’s big score the approach of SPG was slow from the beginning as they scored just 112 runs at the end of 20 overs. After the drinks they tried to catch the run rate and started loosing wickets thus they could only manage to score 215 runs for the loss of 6 wickets. Hamid jamil was top scorer with 56 runs. Talal scored 43 runs, Mahmood 25, Amjad 35 and Junaid scored unbeaten 27 runs. Sajjad bowled well and got 2 wickets for 49 runs.

In the semifinal, Al Ghamdi beat archrivals Kanoo by 4 wickets. Kanoo batted first and scored 248 runs. Qaiser scored a fine century. Ayub Khan also batted well and scored a fine half-century and Nawas chipped in with 32 runs. Rehan, Khawar, Sajjad and Sadaqat all bowled well and took 2 wickets each.

Al Ghamdi reached the target in the 39th over. Thanks to Shahjahan who scored unbeaten 75 runs and took his team to the final. Iqbal Saeed scored a fine half-century and Khawar contributed with 34 runs. Naheed bowled well and took 3 wickets for 41 runs.

Globe Marine, Khalifa Al Gosaibi

& Rainbow shine

In the Aldossary Hardware Super Cup 20 overs tournament, Globe Marine Services beat AlHoda by 8 runs in a close encounter.

Batting first, Globe Marine scored 154 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Amjad batted well and scored 36 runs with the help of 3 boundaries and a towering six. Mohsin Hashim also batted well and scored a breezy 24 runs. Naveed contributed 21 runs and Modassar chipped in with 20 useful runs. Suresh bowled well for AlHoda and took 3 wickets for 26 runs and Anwar took 2 wickets for 18 runs.

In reply, AlHoda went very close and they needed 13 runs in the last over to win but Naveed Khan bowled very well conceded just five runs and took two valuable wickets and grabbed the victory for his team. Faisal batted well and scored 34 runs before he was caught off the bowling of Mohsin. Anwar tried to consolidate the innings and scored 29 runs but he was smartly run out by Mohsin. Suresh chipped in with 21 runs. Naveed took 4 wickets for 27 runs and Mohsin got 2 wickets for 28 runs.

In another match, Khalifa Al Gosaibi crush Deccan Blues by 5 wickets. Deccan Blues batted first and scored 138 runs for the loss of 5 wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Javed batted well and scored 33 runs, Nazeer 28 runs, Nazrul scored a breezy 22 runs with the help of two towering sixes and Minhaj contributed 21 runs. Mehdi bowled well and took 2 wickets for 21 runs.

Khalifa Al Gosaibi reached the target easily in the 19th over but in the process they lost 5 wickets. Eijaz batted well and scored 48 runs which included four hits to the fence. Hidayat also batted well and scored 25 runs including one six and Abbas contributed with 20 runs. Shakil and Omer bowled well and took 2 wickets each.

In another match, Rainbow shocked Saudi Valve and beat them by 79 runs. Rainbow batted first and scored 195 for the loss of 8 wickets. It was a tremendous team effort as all of them contributed well. Imtiaz 33 runs, Raza 29, Khawar 21, Tariq 21, Naeem 21 not out and Tariq Mahmood contributed 20 runs. Unni bowled well and took 3 wickets for 27 runs and Ashraf and David got two wickets each.

Chasing a big total, SVM collapsed under pressure and got all out for 116 runs. Captain Ayub 40 runs was the top scorer, Isamail scored 28 runs and Amin 21 runs. Raza bowled very well and took 3 wickets for 17 runs and Tariq Mahmood got 2 wickets for 32 runs.