JEDDAH: Deccan Knights and Ahmed Cricket Club (ACC) will clash in the final of the Division II cricket league, sponsored by Al Harazi Est. and organized by the Jeddah Cricket Association.
In the semifinals, ACC put an end to the unbeaten run of Butt Sports Club beating them by six wickets while Deccan Knights scored a thrilling five-run win over National Commercial Bank (NCB).
After winning the toss at the JCA ground No.1, Butt Sports decided to bat and put on 205 on the board.
Everything seemed to be going right with opening pair Imran and Tariq scoring 43 and 59 runs respectively. The other batsman who caught the eye was Irfan who scored a quick 59. Zahid remained unbeaten with 17 runs. Zahid Khan took two wickets for ACC.
ACC too made a confident start with openers Syed Kaleem (63) and Mazhar (58) rotating the strike intelligently by taking singles and twos and not hesitating to dispatch the lose ball to the fence.
Both these batsmen laid the match-winning foundation for the following batsmen to do the rest. Ilyas (24), Aleem (15) and Akbar (16 not out) completed the formalities scoring 209 for 4 in 19.2 overs.
In the other semifinal, Deccan Knights batting first after winning the toss were bowled out for 169.
Umar Swadi was their top run-getter with 36 runs. Jawad (21), Javed (18), Waseem (15) and Sameen (13) were the other useful contributors. Extras totalled 33.
Fakhar was the most successful bowler claiming 4 for 31. Jameel got 2 for 30.
After the early loss of their opener Taher for naught, NCB’s Tariq (24) and Nader (17) offered some stability to their inning initially. But with wickets kept falling at one end at regular intervals, Fakkar (55) stood firm at the other end. Jameel (24) and Fakkar looked like achieving their target at some stage. But it was not to be as they fell short by five runs.
Ghouse took four wickets for Deccan Knights.
