JEDDAH, 30 September 2005 — As the atmosphere dictated, so did the competition. Despite the festive ambience of the occasion, competition at the JCL complex was keen adding to the spirit of fun and frolic at the India Festival cricket matches organized by the Indian Consulate General in association with Jeddah Cricket League.
For the record, the Consul General of India XI beat the Jeddah Cricket League XI by 20 runs, the Jeddah Cricket League Executive Committee XI tied the India Forum XI 118 on the last ball in a thriller that had the goodly crowd on the edge of their seats, the IISJ Teaching Staff gave the IISJ Non Teaching Staff a cricketing lesson and the Under-15 and 19 events were won by C.K. Naidu XI (IISJ boys) and Mahatma Gandhi XI (IISJ boys) with the runners up being Abbas Ali Baig XI (DPS boys) and Giani Zail Singh XI (IISJ boys) respectively.
India festival categorized matches in different age groups — U-15 and U-19 boys, the strong Indian cricketers (regulars), the veteran cricketers of Jeddah, the veterans of the Jeddah Cricket League Executive Committee members, IISJ’s teaching & non teaching staff members, the India Forum cricketers and the cricketers from the Consulate. In total, 22 participating teams were divided into three categories. The U-15 age group boys teams used famous Indian cricketers’ names. The teams were M.A.K.Pataudi-XI, Vijay Merchant-XI, C.K.Naidu-XI, Vijay Hazare-XI, , Ajit Wadekar-XI, Abbas Ali Baig-XI, Sunil Gavaskar-XI and Syed Kirmani-XI. The U-19 age group used the names of Indian leaders with the first choice falling on the father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi-XI. Others dedicated were the first prime minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru-XI, Moulana Azad-XI, Dr. Zakir Hussain-XI, Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed-XI, Lal Bahadur Shastri-XI, Giani Zail Singh-XI and Rajiv Gandhi-XI. The third and major age group comprised CGI-XI, JCL-XI, India Forum-XI, JCL Excom.-XI, IISJ Teaching Staff-XI & the IISJ non teaching staff.
All nine JCL grounds were used and while the cricketers were competing keenly in the knockout phase, the families enjoyed the beautiful view of the beach and enjoyed quality time with their younger children and friends. An additional twist to the cricketing drama was a short skit on cricket skills and shot making presented by the IISJ students. It was just great to see the boys executing the back foot drive, front foot drive, late cut, square cut, cover drive, straight drive, hook pull and the glance shot in unision. The drill was prepared by IISJ physical director Ghouse Mohiuddin.
Indian Consul General Dr. Ausaf Sayeed was given a tour of the new JCL Complex by the coordinators of the festival matches Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan and Afsar Faheem. He was a keen participant from the sidelines as the JCL Excom.-XI vs. India Forum-XI match took a torturous course that had everybody’s nerves jangling with both pain and pleasure being savored in equal measures. At the prize distribution ceremony guests included the IISJ School Principal Dr. Abdul Jalil and Vice Principal M. Shafi, India Forum members and all the prominent members of the Indian community were present. Sharief Aslam, the seniormost community member, was the manager of winning team CGI-XI. Commentary was rendered by Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan, Dr. Iqbal Musani, Sultan Mazharuddin and Siadath Ali Khan. Kumar Krishnan, one of JCL’s seniormost umpires, officiated the JCL XI & CGI XI match with Yousufuddin Amjad. The sound system was provided by Franky and his group of Reel & Rom and the sponsors were Sadafco, Diamond Jam, Attieh Group Co. Al Rashid Bakeries Co. provided the breakfast for the players, TATA Al Hamrani Co. distributed the T-shirts and caps to all the participating team members while the Philips United Naghi Co. also supported the event.
Dr. Ausaf Sayeed praised Jeddah Cricket League for providing such great facilities and congratulated all the participating members, organizing committee, volunteers for making the event a success. He presented the prizes and JCL’s Chaudhary Mohammad Iqbal, executive general secretary , presented a plaque to Dr. Ausaf Sayeed on behalf of President Shahid Amin. Reel and Rom too gave a special gift to the chief guest.
The best performance awards recipients were: U-15 category are Best Batsman Neeraj Maxwell, Best Bowler Hashim and Best All-rounder Taha, for the U-19 category the Best Batsman Shadab, Best Bowler Waqas and Best All-Rounder Yousuf Ismail, for the match of India Forum-XI vs. JCL Excom XI the Best Batsman Ibrahim Bin Mehfooz, Best Bowler Jawad Agha and the Best All-rounder Haroon Abdullah Bin Mehfooz while for the CGI-XI vs. JCL XI match Best Batsman Afroz Qasim, Best Bowler Abdul Aziz and the Best All-rounder Wajid Samdani.
Brief Scores:
India Forum vs. JCL-Excom
India Forum 118 for 8: Ibrahim Bin Mehfooz 32, Jawad Agha 17, Hassanuddin 15, Majeedul Hassan 10 and Dr. Suhel Ajaz Khan 6. Haroon Abdullah 2 for 16. JCL Excom XI 118 for 8: Haroon Abdullah 26, Arif Hashmi 26, Nayeemullah Khan 14, Aijaz A. Khan 8 Abdullah hit 3 runs of the last ball, Jawad Agha 2 for 17 while Hassanuddin & Samiullah Khan (TATA) took one wicket each.
CGI-XI vs. JCL-XI
CGI-XI 168 for 9: Afroz Qasim 45, Iqbal Patel 24, Wajid 15, Irfan Qureshi 11 and Wajid Samdani 9, Sadathullah, Khaja, Nadeem and Shakeel took one wicket each. JCL-XI 148: Javid Ahmed 23, Sadathullah 12 and Khaja 9 not out, Abdul Aziz 3 wickets, Iqbal Patel 2 wickets while Jamil, Salim, Afroz, Akbar and Wajid took a wicket each.
IISJ Teaching Staff XI vs. IISJ Non-Teaching Staff-XI
IISJ Teaching Staff-XI 84 for 1: Zeeshan 50 (including 11 hits to the fence). IISJ Non Teaching Staff 72.
