JEDDAH, 24 May — Jeddah Cricket League tournament sponsored by Hempel Paints in the opening week witnessed six matches. A brilliant opening wicket partnership by Saudi Perfume openers enabled an emphatic triumph over Salaheen Club. AWH Rangers won against Saudia City. Scorpions had the better of KAIA. Ali Reza won over Sadafco, Saudi General Insurance after a disastrous start piled up a huge total to have the better of Rabie Foods and Talha Optics emerged victorious after a closely contested match against Hempel Paints.
At the Hempel Paints ground, Salaheen played Saudi Perfume, having called correct at the spin of the coin Salaheen elected to bat first. Openers Osman (22) and Murtaza (92) gave a very good start. Two down batsman Mudassir contributed 30 runs to have Salaheen close their innings at 154 for 4 in the allotted 20 overs. In reply Saudi Perfume openers came out with gun blazing. Abid (62) and Sajeed (80 n.o.) had their opponents chasing leather all over the ground. Saudi Perfume reached the target in just 12 overs making 162 for the loss of one wicket and achieved a tremendous win.
At the Attar ground, Saudia City lost to AWH Rangers. Batting first AWH Rangers scored 166 for 6 in the allotted 18 overs. Even after loosing opener Ifteqar for 1, the other opener Abid (22) and one down batsman Safdar (38) built the innings well supported down the batting order by Furquan who made 21 not out. Khalid Karim 2 for 42 and Qassim 3 for 35 were successful with the bat. Saudia City faced the same situation when their opener was bowled out for a duck. Ameer coming one down made 55 and was supported well by the middle-order batsman Junaid (22), but there was no support coming from other batsman resulting in Saudi City being bowled for 140 runs. Furkahn took 4 wickets for 22. AWH Rangers won the match by 26 runs.
At their home ground KAIA were narrowly trounced by Scorpions. Batting first, KAIA were bowled out in the 19th over for a modest total of 132. None of their batsman could stay at the wicket except the middle order batsman Akbar who made 26. The main wicket takers were Nadeem 3 for 21 and Ali 3 for 26. Scorpion batsman took the example from their opponents and made a beeline to the pavilion, it was their opener Rizwan (41) and Sohail (37) in the middle order, who stood at the crease that enabled their reach the target in the last over, making 134 for the loss of 8 wickets. Taher Ali 2 for 5 and Zafar Khan 2 for 16 were the wicket-takers but failed to stop Scorpions to win by 2 wickets.
At the Nestle Milo ground, Ali Reza defeated Sadafco in the penultimate over. After winning the toss, Sadafco elected to bat and made 143 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. Opener Hamid did the bulk of scoring making 58 while Arif contributed with 24 runs. Shahbaz 2 for 19 and Roshan 2 for 22 were the main wicket-takers. In reply, Ali Reza had an equal contribution from their batsman, Khalil (24) Shahbaz (19) Razak (35), Usman (32) and Roshan (17 n.o.) allowing them to reach 144 for the loss of 4 wickets with just 8 balls left in the innings. Saleem took 2 wickets for 18. Ali Reza achieved an exciting 6-wicket victory.
At the Nestle Milo ground, SGI won the toss and elected to bat against Rabie Foods. They found themselves in trouble when they were 2 down for 2 and 4 down for just 26. The middle-order batsmen then played the rescue act with Kaleem hammering 77 in just 35 balls and well-supported by Azeem (38) and Parvez (29) to pile up 200 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. Opening fast bowler Nafraz was responsible for the early debacle claiming 4 wickets for 49. In reply, Rabie Foods fell short of target by 54 runs, with runs coming from Rohan (53) and Afroz (21). Kaleem took his batting form when he bowled and took 3 wickets for 19 runs to restrict Rabie Foods to 146 for 9 and a well earned victory for SGI. At their home ground Hempel Paints won the toss and elected to bat the had a very good opening stand between Munib Hasan (49 n.o.) and Khusroo (33) but the batsmen that followed could not consolidate the innings and Hempel Paints closed their innings at 138 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs. Taher 2 for 29 and Saeed 2 for 23 were amongst the wickets. In reply, Talha Optics scored 139 for 6 in 17.1 overs Naveed (25) and Anwar (20 n.o.) were the main scorers. Arif Hashmy 2 for 21, Ihtesham 2 for 22 and Majeed Hasan 2 for 26 took the wickets. Talha Optics handed a four-wicket defeat in the opening match to Hempel Paints.
