JEDDAH, 16 November — Jeddah Cricket League has the Kanoo Group as the sponsor once again. The new cricket season 2001-2002 has thus started with the Kanoo Cup.
About 54 teams of Jeddah will be taking part and playing in three divisions.
Premier Division, Division 1 and Division 2.
The Premier Division is a full-day game league.
Where as Division 1 and Division 2 are half day 20 - 25 over matches.
In the opening week of the tournament it was the sponsor’s team Kanoo Travel that set the pace of the tournament by showing their clout with the ball in Division One, where as Tamer showed off their batting powers in Division two.
In Division One: Six matches were played in the opening week of the league.
At the Juffali ground, Kanoo Travel humbled ACE Travel with some fine bowling by their captain Sohail Butt.
Batting first, ACE Travel did well to restrict Kanoo Travel to 129 all out in the last over of 18 over match.
Sohail Butt (20), Rashid (21) and Kashif (22) were among the runs.
Mohsin was the chief wrecker of Kanoo Travel’s batting by claiming 4 wickets for 10 runs with good support from Mubashir who also took 4 wickets for 26.
In reply, ACE travel was bundled out for 64 giving Kanoo travel a 65 run win.
Sohail Butt came out with all guns blazing and had four of their top order batsmen sent back with figures of 4 for 22, Shamim 2 for 26 and Shafi 2 for 10 were other successful bowlers.
At the Juffali ground, Unasco won over Nadir Toor by just 2 runs in a nail biting finish. Batting first, Unasco was bowled out for 158 in 18.2 overs in a 20 over match.
Sayeed (35), Zahid Iqbal (20) and Shomail (25).
Ejaz Toor 2 for 32 and Akram 4 for 30.
In reply, Nadir Toor made 156 for 8 in 20 overs.
Ghayoor (20), Akram (37) and Shabir (21) were among the runs. Ashraf took 2 wickets for 25, Zahid 3 for 26 and Tanvir 2 for 25.
At the Nestle Milo ground, Shalimar lost to Adamjee by five wickets in another closely fought match. Batting first, Shalimar were bowled out for 121 in the last over of 18 over match. Naveed (20), Zain S. (31) were the main scorers, while Salman took 2 wickets for 28, Saleem 3 for 27 and Yaseen 2 for 17.
Adamjee replied back with 125 for 5 reaching the target in the last over. In-spite of loosing both openers cheaply the got the runs with good batting from Shafiq (42), Imran (29) and Yaseen (22). Wajid took 2 wickets for 25.
At their home ground Zuhair Zahran fell short of reaching their target by 5 runs against Red Sea Paints and lost the match in another nail biting finish.
Batting first, Red Sea made 147 for 5 in 20 overs. Runs were scored by Shakeel (38), Saleem (33) and Kauser (32). Muraiz 2 for 25 and Zahid Khan 2 for 27 were the main wicket-takers. Zuhair Zahran were restricted to 142 for 5, with Kaleem (32) and Captain Haron Abdullah (51 n.o.) contributing to the runs. Munir took 3 wickets for 26.
At the ACE ground, Deccan Blues were comfortable winners against SGB Green by 7 wickets. SGB were bowled out for 124 in 18 over match. Tail-ender Suhail made 21 runs; the highest score was that of extras (25).
Younus 3 for 33 and Bashir 2 for 22 bowled well.
Deccan Blues achieved the target 2 overs to spare making 128 for 3, with runs from Quddus (44), Iftekar (19) and Aziz (21). Adeeb took 2 wickets for 27.
At the Kanoo ground, hosts Kanoo won against Juffali.
Batting first, Juffali was bowled out for 108 in 20 over match. Azhar Butt (36) was the only batsman to stay for some time on the crease while others made a bee line to the pavilion.
Nadeem Akram had a terrific spell of bowling claiming 5 wickets for 22. Well supported by Naeem Amin 2 for 19.
Chasing a low score Kanoo achieved their target easily making 112 for 3 with runs from Muhammad Tayeb (49) and Nadeem Amin (35) and victory by 7 wickets.
In Division Two: Six matches were also played in the opening week of the league in division two.
At the Attar ground, Tamer in the opening match against Zuhair Fayez, piled up 259 for 2, batting first.
With Anwar Khan (103) and Salim Patel (102) both hitting centuries, and a partnership of 222 runs between them. They then bundled out Zuhair Fayez for 139.
Nadeem opening the innings was the only one who single handedly hammered 84 in the score of 139 with hardly any contribution from the rest of the batsmen.
Noor 3 for 23 and Almas 2 for 10 helped Tamer to an emphatic triumph by 120 runs.
At the Kanoo ground, Hero Rangers defeated Sadafco in the last over in a trilling encounter. Sadafco batted first and made 146 for 6 in the allotted 18 overs. Amjad (26), Arif (57 n.o.) were among the runs. Hero Rangers in-spite of loosing top 4 batsmen cheaply rallied through Safdar (48 n.o.), Noor (18) and Furkhan (20) to reach the target and a win by 3 wickets. Khalil took 2 wickets for 40.
At their home ground KAIA sent Saudi Majestique on a leather hunt and piled up 220 for 4 in a 20 over match.
Opener Tahir hit a brilliant centaury making 115 runs.
Nasir made 65. Yousef took 2 wickets.
In reply, Saudi Majestique was restricted to 136 for 5.
Yousef (25), Mohammed Ali (21), Abdul Samad (33 n.o.) and Iqbal (42) contributed to the score, S. Azeem took 2 wickets for 30. KAIA won by 84 runs.
At the Attar ground, IISJ went down fighting when they narrowly lost to Al Rabie Foods. Batting first, Al Rabie was bowled out for 156 in a 21 over match. Hamdi (20), Rohan (33) and Afrooz (44) scored the runs. Ajmal took 3 wickets and Muthzirn and Mujahid took two wickets each.
In reply, IISJ fell short of the target by 15 runs, making 141 for 4. Sadik (44), Mujahid (20) and Faisal (30 n.o.) were significant run scorers. At the Nestle Milo ground Talha Optics made short work of Saleheen with an easy 6 wickets win.
Bating first, Saleheen could score 117 for 8 in 18 over match. Aqib in the middle order made 42 runs.
Ahsan 3 for 9 and Saeed 2 for 16 were the main wicket takers. Talha Optics made 119 for 4 in 14.5 overs for a six wicket victory. Sayeed ( 42 n.o.) Saleem took 2 wickets.
