JEDDAH: Jet Airways shot to the top of the table in the Jotun Cup Premier League after it secured the leading tally of 16 points with the net run rate 0.538.
Ace Travel took the second position on 12 points with the net run rate at 0.419, Natco third position on 10 points and net run rate of 0.492. Ravi Cricket Club had identical 10 points but a net run rate of 0.462 after nine rounds of round robin league matches.
Jotun Saudia Co. Ltd. is the tournament sponsor under the auspices of Jeddah Cricket Association (JCA).
At JCA ground No.1, Natco elected to bat first and scored 162 for 7 wickets in the allotted 18 overs. Natco got a big jolt as their opener Jawad was caught brilliantly off the bowling of new ball bowler Raoof for 9 runs, but the other opener Usman remained unbeaten on 76 runs. The other notable run getters for Natco were Fahad and Ashique with 21 and 16 runs respectively. Raoof took two wickets while Ashfaque, Atta Ur Rehman and skipper Zain took one wicket each for the Ace Travel.
In reply, the Ace Travel reached the target of 166 runs with the loss of 4 wickets in 16.5 overs and won the match by 6 wickets. Athar Ali, the lanky young opening batsman who has so far showed good form this season with the bat, made 41 valuable runs in 18 balls with the help of half a dozen boundaries. His opening partner Zain Al Salikeen chipped in with 23 runs. Rana Shahzad was unlucky to be run out for 6 to a brilliant throw. Attah Ur Rehman scored an unbeaten 60 runs in 27 balls, while the veteran all rounder Zain Ul Huda hit a match-winning 31 valuable runs.
At JCA ground No.2, Ravi Cricketers made 139 for the loss of 9 wickets. They were unlucky as their top and middle order batsmen failed to impress with the bat.
Only Shafiullah managed to stay at the crease against the fast bowler Imran and Abul Hassan’s intelligent yorkers and against the wind bowling attack. Later, Saeed Rahim and Ali managed to score an identical 22 runs each for the Ravi but left arm spinner Shamim destroyed the lower middle order and the tail enders as he took 4 wickets.
Early medium pacer Abul Hassan bundled out the openers and the middle order batsmen with his accurate bowling as he took 4 wicket while his fast bowling partner Imran got the wicket of Adnan.
In reply, the unbeaten Jet Airways team started their innings with a bang as their pinch-hitting opening batsman Anwar Ahmed Khan scored 75 runs, again starting his innings by hitting four boundaries in a row to the fast bowler Saeed. In his first over, he played a quick fire innings of 37 runs off just 13 deliveries. Raziuddin, the most successful batsman in this tournament, was unbeaten on 42 runs off 33 balls. Imran who supported Raziuddin scored 37 runs and earned a seven-wicket victory for Jet Airways, which reached the target of 140 for 2 wickets in 15.2 overs.
