JEDDAH, 1 August 2003 — Mahmood Saeed led by a superb 176 runs from Mohammed Irfan, defeated Traco by 202 runs in a one-sided final to clinch the Fuchs Cup (Premier Division) sponsored by Fuchs Petroleum Saudi Arabia and organized by Jeddah Cricket League.
Batting first, Mahmood Saeed went on the attack from the beginning. Maqbool hit 5 fours and 2 sixes in his 44 runs which came off 24 balls and helped put on 60 runs for the opening wicket before holing to Javad off Naeem.
Irfan now took over the reins reaching his fifty off 31 balls. He soon raced to his century off 60 balls and then reached his 150 off 81 balls.
He went to make 176 runs with 17 fours and 5 sixes in 97 balls before he was caught in the deep off Naeem. Naeem and Shakeel picked up 3 wickets each. Irfan was given good support by Kashif (34) with whom he put on 83 runs for the 2nd wicket and Wajahat (45) with whom he added 175 runs for the 3rd wicket. After his dismissal at 318, Mahmood Saeed collapsed from 318 for 2 to 348 for 8 with Farooq hitting a quick-fire 29 off 11 balls with 2 fours and 2 sixes.
In reply, Traco had no clue to the pace of Mohammad Amjad and the spin of Wajahat as both picked up 4 wickets for 48 and 44 runs respectively to bundle Traco out for a paltry 156 runs in 19.2 overs.
Only skipper Hamid Rana offered a fight with a swift 49 runs of 30 balls while Azeem and Faisal chipped in with 29 and 26 runs, respectively.
Mahmood Saeed won the coveted 15th Fuchs Trophy which had eluded them many a time.
