JEDDAH, 31 March 2005 — KAIA prevailed over Tamer by 8 wickets, Real Juice beat Kanoo by 3 wickets and LG United Naghi, with their fine team work posted yet another memorable 7-wicket victory against Shalimar (AAA) as they emerged strong contenders to qualify for the knockout stage after the 9th week matches of Western Union League for Division-I.
Organized by Jeddah Cricket League (JCL), the tournament is sponsored by Western Union Money Transfer Company.
At JCL-4 grounds Shalimar (AAA) batting first suffered a blow as their opener Tariq Jamal was caught brilliantly by Feroz off the bowling of fast bowler Wajid.
Naveed, star batsman at the other end, played confidently to hit (3X4) & (1X6) in his innings of 26 runs but was beaten in the air clean bowled by Wajid’s inswinger. At No.3 Mubashir took charge, executed some beautiful strokes and punished each and every bowler he faced for valuable 65 runs including (5X4) & (2X6).
Zain 9 & Taher 22 runs also produced for Shalimar but both became the victim of Asad and finally Wajid took his fourth wicket of the match by taking the prized wicket of Rahath. Afroz, with his spin, cut the tail of Shalimar as he took the wickets of Irfan & Mujeeb. Shalimar managed 159 for 8.
In reply, LG United Naghi openers started cautiously as Tahir and Zain bowled perfect line & length and kept Talha searching the ball in the early stage. But later he hit twice to the ropes but went on 16. Saleem Nahdi, the main guide of the team, came in to bat at No.3 and pegged himself and guided his fellow batsman and executed beautiful ground shots. Wajid specially drove straight twice and hit a towering six off the bowling of Tahir before falling victim to the experienced Shalimar Ashfaq for a well made 32. Saleem Nahdi was clean bowled by Tareq Jamal for 35. Maqbool with his usual attacking strokeplay plundered Shalimar bowlers with his exhilarating strokes for an unbeaten knock of 47 runs in just 27 balls. A quick fire 15 runs by Atthar made LG reach the victory target 162 for 3 in 16.2 and win by 7 wickets.
At JCL-2 Grounds Tamer batting first were bundled out for a paltry 79 runs. Sunny top scored with 21 while Ramazan and Arif Rana added 15 & 11 runs respectively. Zafar, Asif and Amer took 3 for 22, 3 for 6 & 2 for 12 respectively, while Ghufran & Syeed each took a wicket. In reply KAIA reached the target 80 for the loss of two wickets. Ghufran was in full cry for the runs as he hit six fours in his match-winning batting performance of 34 runs while Abrar 18 and Sayeed 10 also played well to give KAIA victory by 8 wickets in 11.3 overs.
At JCL-5 Grounds Kanoo made 119 for 9. Imran, Rashid, Waseem & Arshad Sr. made 29, 26, 16 & 15 runs respectively, Shamim & Saeed took 2 for 19 & 2 for 11 while the old horse Farooqui & experienced Abu Hassan took one each wicket for Kanoo. Replying to the low total Real Juice opener & a consistent batsman Rayees Ahmed made an un beaten knock of 40 runs with the help of singles, doubles and a lone boundary. Real juice made 120 for 7 to take the match by 3 wickets.
