YANBU, 23 May 2003 — Fancied YSLC, comprising of Sri Lankans, bit the dust in the semifinals of the Yanbu Cricket League event. The Lankans won the toss and invited Royal Commission (A), who had finished second in the group encounter, to bat. Abdul Qadeer and in form Abdul Qayyum began aggressively. Qadeer (24) departed after setting the tempo. Zia then joined Abdul Qayyum to take charge of the proceedings and shared a partnership of 102 runs. Zia’s contribution was 41, inclusive of 4 fours. Qayyum then fell at 149 following a personal score of 67, 8 fours. Imran and Tahir then took the team’s total to 186 for 3. The Lankans missed the bowling and experience of their old warhorse Das.

In reply, YSLC opened their innings with Chamanda and Silmi. Silmi failed to fire, falling to Abdul Qayyum, who also dismissed Chamanda in quick succession. Ifham, capable of scoring big, then gave the Lankans some hope. His valiant knock of 96 not out could not help his team as the Lankans came close. They was all out for 182. Abdul Qayyum took 2 for 26 and Iqbal 3 for 31.

For his all round performance Qayyum was declared man of the match.

In the second semifinal, Jotun, who too had emerged top, won the toss and invited Blue Star to bat first. Blue Star again tried a new set of openers — Zulfekar and young Salman. Zulfekar after scoring 18 runs was out early. But the other batsmen kept the scoring rate at a fast clip. Kazim and Salman let the way till the latter was out for 22. Kazim (30) and Amoudi (30) added some useful runs and Minhaj chipped in with a quickfire 18 runs for a 160 for nine total. Munir and Aslam took 2 wickets each for Jotun.

Jotun’s star Zia went cheaply, and in the next over Shabaz lost his head and his wicket for a duck as Jotun’s reply was in disarray.

Though Munir (23) lofted Shoukat for 2 huge sixes and a four, he did not last long, nor did the confidence his shots had inspired. This did give some confidence and respect to the score. Shakeel’s 54 (2 fours and a six) helped repair Jotun’s innings. The match hung in balance till the last over. A boundary in the last over changed things and Jotun won by 3 wickets. Minhaj and Kazim took 2 wickets apiece.

Amoudi bowled very economically giving 14 runs in 4 overs and picking a wicket. Shakeel’s performance earned him man of the match.