RIYADH, 20 December 2002 — Under cool and cloudy weather conditions Carrier Cricket Club beat Friends Cricket Club in Shield group finals while SAMBA outclassed Al-Hamra in Plate group finals to lift the RCA 20-over Carrier Cup warmup tourney at RCA grounds. Earlier the tournament got under way after Ramazan break and in morning semi-final matches Carrier beat Pak-Shaheen by a whooping margin of 130 runs while SAMBA beat Al-Taqniah by 46 runs to enter the finals.
At RCA-2 ground Carrier batting first against Friends lost two quick wickets of Syed Hasnain and Rizwan Qayyum. Kashif Mazhar Khan along with Arshad took the score to respectability. For Carrier Kashif was in brilliant form. He slammed quick 83 in just 36 balls with 8 sixes and 2 fours.
The other notable scorers for Carrier were Arshad Mahmood 20 and Muhammad Mouzzam 21. At the end of stipulated 20 overs Carrier recorded a formidable score of 190 for 9. In Reply, Friends batsman could not kept the momentum going, as wickets fell at regular intervals and they were bowled out for 166 with Muhammad Mouzzam grabbing 4 for 24 in his 4 over spell. The other wicket takers for Carrier were Asif Kazmi 2 for 25 and Ejaz Sulaiman 2 for 26. Muhammad Mouzzam was later adjudged Man of the Match for his fine all round performance.
In the plate group finals at RCA-3 ground SAMBA Scored a modest 152 for 7 in allotted 20 over. Javed Jameel top scored for SAMBA with 46 while Gibreel Rana scored an unbeaten 24. Al-Hamra found the going tough and were restricted to 133 for 8 in stipulated 20 over. For SAMBA Raza Khan and Gibreel Rana took 3 wickets each. Later Gibreel Rana was adjudged Man of the Match for his brilliant all round performance.
Scores: (Carrier: 190 for 9 — Kashif Mazhar Khan 83, Arshad Mahmood 20, Muhammad Mouzzam 21 Beat Friends C.C.: 166 — Muhammad Mouzzam 4/23, Asif Kazmi 2/25, Ejaz Sulaiman 2/26). (SAMBA: 152 for 7 — Javed Jamil 46, Gibreel Rana n.o. 24, Beat Al-Hamra: 133 — Raza Khan 3/20, Gibreel Rana 3/20). (Syed Taqiuddin)
