JEDDAH, 23 February 2005 — Zainal Alireza, chief patron of the Jeddah Cricket League (JCL), bowled and batted to mark the inauguration of the new JCL cricket complex in Obhor, north Jeddah. He toured the area and appreciated the efforts of JCL President Shahid Amin and its executive committee members for providing excellent facilities to local cricketers for playing regular matches among the different leagues, age groups, social matches among different communities and inter-city matches. He described the new complex as “unique in the world.” Nine out of 20 grounds are already in use and three more grounds will be ready soon. By the end of this season, all the other grounds, including the two international standard practice pitches, will become operational.
Majeedul Hassan was the master of ceremony who highlighted the efforts of the complete team that had worked day and night to develop the new complex. He expressed his gratitude to 85-year-old labor Khan Cha-Cha, Azmath who worked on the field, Azaz Toor who was instrumental in acquiring the facilities, Haroon Abdullah who was in communication with the teams during the construction of the complex, Aijaz A. Khan, in charge of the development of facilities who offered technical expertise, Mohammad Iqbal, the binding force who walked from a hospital after his heart ailment to the ground-breaking ceremony of the new complex, Afsar Fahim who initiated the speedy construction of the complex, and Shahid Amin who has dedicated his life for the development of cricket in the Kingdom.
Shahid Amin, addressing the large gathering of cricketers, said as many as 54 clubs would play in this complex — “the largest cricket complex in the world.” It has dressing rooms for the clubs, Academy standard practice pitches, panoramic view pavilion and 3.5 meter high boundary wall with lockable steel gate with 24-hour security guard.
He thanked the media, in particular Arab News, the Saudi Gazette, and sponsors Kanoo Group, Saudia Milk, Western Union Money Transfer, Bison Energy Drink, Zultec Technical Services, National Commercial Bank, Al Ofi Freight World, NATCO (Humayoon), Real Juice, Air-India, PIA, Saudi Steel Co.(Jawad Agha) and other travel agencies who have all along supported JCL.
The JCL executive committee members Naimullah Khan, Akhtar Hussain, Ahsan Rafeh, Saeedul Hassan, Azizulla Shariff, Muzaffar Hussain, the guest of honor Mustafa of Saudi Electricity Co. and Siraj Al Amri of Alireza Group, who were instrumental in getting permission for the construction of the new complex with the authorities.
Veteran cricketer and Continental School Director R.Law, YCL President Abdul Jabbar and many others including Sharief Aslam, Shakeel Sultan, Saleem Qadri, Jamal Qadri, Badar Ansari, Siadath Ali Khan, Sultan Mazharuddin, Shamim Kausar, Ali Sherza, Mohd. Idrees, Abdul Aziz and Mir Saifullah, aside from Habeeb Khan, Naseem Khan, Humayoon Farooq, A.A.Merchant, Kumar Krishnan, Jaffar Abbasi, Saleem Butt, Taufeeq Shah, Shamim Ul Haque and Abubakar Bin Hussain for their support. JCL is about to launch its own website soon.
Almost all the 36 registered teams have participated in the eight-a-side warm-up inaugural matches for all the divisions, the highlight performances of the day were, Irfan of Saudia City who hit 48 runs off 26 balls, Omer Riaz 43, Akram 25 n.o. and Zahid 29 n.o. of Juffali, Salam Amoudi of United Naghi 35 not out, Mutahair of Friends XI made 36 runs off 18 balls, Anwar of Panda scored an unbeaten 39 runs, Panda’s captain Arif Hashmi hammered 33 runs, Zamim of Reliable scored 36 runs n.o., Najam of Kanoo made 29 runs, Taher and Abdulla of Shalimar contributed 38 & 30 runs respectively, Arif 40 and Nissar 21 runs scored for Tamar, Taher 36 & Ansar 35 runs scored for KAIA, Rehan of Saudia Majestique scored 20 runs and Kumar Krishnan took a wicket. For Afkar Promo-7 Rumaiz & Faisal made 24 & 27 runs respectively. Nadeem & Irfan of GCI scored 23 & 24 runs respectively. For Biryani House, fine knock of 37 by Inayat, Reel & Rom’s Zubair scored 25 runs, Babar Toor’s Abdul Razzak struck 40 runs, highest of the day 52 runs made by Khawar Sohail & Rashid Malik made 41 not out for Kanoo Travels. Dashing knock of 46 runs by captain Haroon Abdullah and a quick fire 24 runs by Pervez Khan of Sadafco.
JCL captain Anees Malik of Saudia Milk blasted 40 runs in just 18 balls with classic strokeplay of his knock, while his teammate Abdul Jabbar took the maximum wickets of the day .i.e. 3 wkts for his team. Samad Khan of Biryani House & Haroon Abdullah of Sadafco who missed the hat trick and managed to take a couple of wickets. The other wicket-takers are Mohd. Jaffer, Javid Iqbal, Arif, Fawad, Gul, Naveed, Javeed, Sarpnal, Wasi, Inayat, Sikandar, Saleem, Faisal, Taher, Irfan, Hussain, Manik, Jawwad, Nisar, Muqeet, Shahnawaz, Asad, Abdul Aziz, Maqbool, Athar, Tariq, Rayees, Amin, Javid, Irfan. Ghufran of Babar Toor, Khaja & Naseeb of Panda, Zeeshan of Tamar and Azeem & Saleem of GCI took 2 wickets each.
