JEDDAH, 18 January — SGB Baroom opened their account with a thrilling victory by 13 runs over Young Athlete in a high scoring match in the 7th week of the Kanoo League (Premier Division) organized by JCL.
In other matches, Saudia Milk recorded their second win with an easy 108 runs win over IDB and Traco raced to a 7-wicket win over Toshiba to reach the second spot at the table.
SGB Baroom opened their account in the league with a thrilling win by 12 runs over Young Athlete. SGB openers Shoaib and Manjeet with an unbeaten 125 runs raced to 100 before the former was dismissed for 46.
Manjeet was in superb form scoring his first century of the season. He batted patiently in the beginning but grew in confidence later picking the gaps at will. His innings studded with 7 fours and 2 huge sixes and remained unbeaten with 125 runs off 96 balls.
Tariq scored 33 but it was Imtiaz who swelled the tally with an aggressive unbeaten 79 which included 6 fours and 3 sixes. Manjeet and Imtiaz put on 125 runs for the unfinished 3rd wicket as SGB Baroom ended at 315 for 2 in 35 overs.
In reply, Young Athlete faced with an asking rate of 9 an over took up the challenge in right earnest as openers Amir (77) and Amjad (76) put on 168 runs for the first wicket in 21 overs.
Amir was the more aggressive as he hit the ball in gaps at will and pierced the field with 8 sweetly timed fours and a six whereas Amjad batted patiently for his 76 which included 4 hits to the fence. After their departure Usman scored 20 and Hussain changed the complexion with a power packed 62 inclusive of 4 fours and 2 sixes and almost bought the Athlete close to a thrilling win. However, Tariq bowled accurately to pick up 3 for 57 to restrict Young Athlete to 303 for 6 in 35 overs thereby giving SGB Baroom their first win by 12 runs.
Saudia Milk batsmen went on rampage with almost all of them contributing a reasonable share in the team’s total. Javed top scored with a patient 49, Imran chipped in with 46, Arif his usual self with a gritty 43 runs. Shakir (32), Saleem Nahdi (31), Amir (21) and Anis (21) propped up the lower order to enable their team close to 300 mark ending with 297 for 7. Asif and Abid picked up 3 and 2 wickets respectively.
In reply, IDB were bundled out for 189 runs as Azam, Imran and Iftekhar picked up 2 wickets each. Opener Shoaib led the way with a superb 50 inclusive of 5 fours and a six and was given good support by Faiyaz (28), Abid (30) and Abdullah (28) but the rest of the batsmen could not handle the Milkmen who eventually won by 108 runs.
Toshiba were restricted to 220 all out and Traco raced at almost 10 an over to reach their target scoring 224 for 3 in only 23.2 overs. Although Toshiba openers Usman (41) and Ahmed (44) gave them a good start with 87 for the 1st wicket in 12 overs batting with authority waiting for the lose balls to pick their shots.
However, the remaining batsmen barring Imran who scored an impressive 47, just had no clue to the Traco bowling. Khalid Butt with 3 for 43 Rashid with 2 for 9 and Faisal 2 for 33 did most of the damage. In reply, Traco batsmen went for the kill. Although Khalid their prolific scorer was dismissed cheaply, Faisal Butt with a quick fire 37 inclusive of 3 sixes and 3 fours laid the foundation for the later batsmen who went on to launch their fusillade with typically aggressive batting.
Rashid with 65 including 8 hits to the fence, Azeem who has been in fine knock blasted his way to an un beaten 56 runs with 7 fours and Faiyaz gave him company scoring 28 runs, all of them ensuring that Traco reached their target in double quick time ending at 224 for 3 in 23.2 overs.
