RIYADH, 26 January 2007 — Pakistan International School (Nasseriya) and Indian International Public School registered wins in the Arab News Inter-School Cricket Tournament here.

The tournament is organized by Riyadh Cricket Association (RCA) and sponsored by Arab News. The matches are being played at RCA grounds in Sulay area.

Three matches were played after the Hajj holiday break on Thursday .

Under-19 matches:

At RCA Ground 1 : PIS (Nasseriya) defeated Al-Jawahar school with a comfortable margin of 60 runs. Batting first, PIS made 218 runs in their allotted 20 overs. The star of the innings was again Rizwan Manzoor. He continued his good form from the previous match and scored scintillating 83 runs and remained unbeaten, and his innings was studded with 12 fours. He got good support from skipper Amer Thrombo, who made a useful 63 runs.

For Al-Jawaher school Moiz Zulqarnain bowled well to pick up three wickets.Al Jawaher started the chase well but collapsed in the middle as the whole team folded up for only 158 runs.

Skipper Hassan Javed waged lone battle by making a gallant 58 runs. For PIS (Nasseriyya) Hassan, Rizwan and Obaidullah picked 2 wickets each.

At RCA Grounds 2: Bangladesh International School (BIS) routed Middle East International School (MEIS) in a convincing manner. MEIS won the toss and elected to bat but could not make use of batting first and the whole team was swept for 156 runs in 19 overs. Niazi (39 runs) and Fahad (26 runs) waged a lone battle but could not stay for long.

For BIS Opu and Asif each took 2 wickets each. In reply the BIS started its innings disastrously by losing 2 wickets early, but Opu and M.Ashiq played sensibly to reach the target. Opu was in splendid form as he smashed the MEIS bowlers round the wicket. He remained unbeaten on 60 runs with the help of 7 fours. M.Ashiq supported Opu well by contributing unbeaten 54 runs with the aid of 5 boundaries.

At RCA 4 : Sri Lankan International School (SLIS) whitewashed Manarat Al Riyadh School. Batting first the SLIS boys piled up 181 runs for only 2 wickets, Mohammad Masood made an electrifying 60 runs with the aid of 9 boundaries. Buddhi Abbeyratne showed his consistency by scoring his second fifty (51 not out), Onier Masood (27 runs) and Shirantha (23 runs) completed the run feast. In reply the Manarat Boys could not cope up with the guile of Shefan Hameed of SLIS and could reach only 134 runs in their allotted overs. Only Talha Rehan offered some resistance with 30 runs. Shefan took 5 for 18 in 3 overs.

Under-14 matches:

AT RCA 3: Indian International Public School (IIPS) defeated Manarat Al Riyadh School by a close margin. IIPS won the toss and elected to bowl first. This gamble paid off as IIPS bowlers contained the run flow of Manarat boys by restricting them to 157 runs for loss of two wickets. The IIPS batsmen attained the target in the 19 over, losing 7 wickets, Sharang was the mainstay of IIPS batting as he compiled 48 valuable runs, Mohd Rashid provided good support with 38 runs.