JEDDAH, 15 November 2007 — The new cricket season for the year 2007-08 of Jeddah Cricket League got off to a fine start. Forty-one teams entered in Premier League, Division I and Division II.

Baud Telecom Company are the sponsors of the tournament. This is JCL’s third event in two years being sponsored by the BTC.

Six matches were played under the JCL banner that launched its 33rd season by beating Madinah Cricket Association the previous week in the intercity event.

In the first match, Johnson Control-Blue set up a challenging target of 167 runs in their allotted 18 overs while bating first. Ameen Kasir (50 not out, 4X4), Farrukh (23, 4X4), Amir (17, 3X4) and Kashef (15 not out, 2X4) were the main scorers.

Imtiaz was the pick of the bowler from ALJ, taking 3 wickets for 39 in 4 overs where as Tanveer and Mutab shared apiece.

In reply, ALJ lost their opener Javed cheaply. Adil played a solid knock of 53 (10X4) but the middle order could not do well. Only Naeem (18, 1X4) and Imtiaz 24 (1X4) offered some resistance but in the end failed to get the remaining 10 runs in their allotted overs. They made 157.

Reel & Rom Hawks managed 121 runs in 18 overs in the second match of the day. The main contributors were Shabbir (32, 3X4) and Shoaib (29, 2X4 and 1X6). Rest of the players did not fare well against a disciplined spell of Mohammad Rehan of GENTEC who captured 3 wickets in 4 overs for 27 runs.

In reply, GENTEC openers Jai Kumar (39, 3x4 and 1x6) and Mohammad Anwer (29 not out, 5X4) provided a 1st wicket stand of 96 runs in 9 overs that effectively taken the match away from Reel & Rom Hawks. When Irfan came in after the departure of Jai Kumar, there was still no let up in the run chase. He made a quickfire 21 not out in 8 balls (2X4 and 1X6) to seal the match for GENTEC, who reached the target of 123 runs for the loss of one wicket in 10.1 overs.

Khyber started solidly against Al-Hamrani TATA, thanks to an excellent knock from one down batsman Asif who made 62 (4X4 and 2X6) and kept the run rate high despite losing Goga cheaply on 8. Fareed was the other opener who made 23 (1X4). Later, another splendid batting performance was shown by Irfan who contributed 41 valuable runs (4X4 and 2X6) to set up a stiff target for 161 for the opponents with an asking run rate of 8.94.

Waqar from Al-Hamrani TATA managed to capture 3 wickets for 18 runs in 3 overs. Al-Hamrani TATA batsmen did not provide any resistance except Irfan who hit 41 runs (7X4) toward the end of the session but that was too little too late. Finally, the team was bundled out for a paltry 129 runs in 17.3 overs. From Khyber, Asif 3 for 12 runs and Irfan 2 for 27 runs.

The match between Abid Shaikh and KAIA was played on ground No. 5. Batting first, KAIA managed to score freely against an ineffective bowling performance of their opponent who managed to get only one wicket in 18 overs. Abrar 25 (4X4), Ghufran 65 not out (9X4) and Asif Butt 31 not out (3X4) dug in well to blunt the attack of Abid Shaikh. KIA managed to score 138 runs for the loss of one wicket in 18 overs.

In reply, Abid Shaikh managed only 114 runs in 18 overs. None of their players showed the kind of application required when the chip was down. Only Ahmed (28, 2X4) and Wasim 18 (2X4) brought a glimmer of hope that died down when the allotted number of overs were not found sufficient to score the required runs.

The success of KAIA bowling belonged to Saeed (3) and Omar (2) who grabbed 5 wickets between them. The last match of the morning session was played on ground No. 9 between Attieh Steel and BTC. Attieh Steel showed their mettle with the bat and scored 190 in their allotted overs. Except for Shahid who threw his wicket without scoring, all other batsmen delivered. Starting with Sajjad (41, 6X4), Tipu (59 retired 3X4), Ghulam Nabi (34 retired 3X4) down to Abdul Qayyum (25 not out 1X4 and 2X6) there was no mercy shown by any one against a weak bowling attack of their opponents.

Irfan and Ibrahim of BTC each took one wicket. Under pressure from a huge run chase, BTC managed only 111 runs in 16 overs. Only Farooq Pasha (25, 3X4) and Ibrahim (39, 6X4) offered some resistance. None of the other players reached double figures.

The credit went to Attieh Steel bowlers who maintained a very nagging line through out the session that made most of their deliveries unplayable for BTC players. In the process, Faiz took 3 wickets, while Riaz and Shahid managed 2 each.