ALKHOBAR, 8 February — In the EPCA League sponsored by Khalifa Algosaibi Group Deccan Blues won the 1st division League Championship title. In the final and vital match of the league Deccan Blues outfought Rainbow by 18 runs.
Deccan Blues batted first and scored 234 runs in their allotted 40 overs. Mahboob Nabi who played the captain’s innings was unfortunate man as he was just short of 2 runs to complete his century.
Ehtisham also batted well and scored 49 runs while Yaseen contributed with 26 runs.
In reply, Rainbow were all out for 216 runs. They lost wickets in quick intervals from the beginning. Tariq Mahmood batted sensibly and scored a beautiful 79 runs. After his departure Nadeem tried to consolidate the innings scoring a useful 32 runs but his effortes went in vain as wickets fell like pins at the other end and soon they were all out. Omer bowled well and took 3 wickets for 41 runs. Khursheed took 2 wickets for 40 runs and captain Mahboob also grabbed two wickets for just 2 runs and carried his team to the winning stand.
In another match, Alghamdi outmaneuvered YATA by 3 wickets. Sajjad Mahmood was the main destroyer by taking 6 precious wickets for 52 runs.
YATA were all out for 296 while batting first. Mazhar was the top scorer with 71 runs and captain Naeem scored an unbeaten 62 runs. Najeeb, Saeed, Shahzad and Asim all scored in 30s. Rehan also bowled well and took 2 wickets for 61 runs.
In reply, Aalghamdi reached the target in the last over, thanks to Shahjahan who batted sensibly and scored unbeaten 21 runs in just 11 balls and took his team to an important victory. Earliar, Tariq, Khawar and Iqbal all scored half century. Sadaqat contributed 31 runs and Safdar scored useful 25 runs. Ian Fernandez and Shahzad bowled well and took 2 wickets each.
In another close encounter, Kanoo beat AGE by 15 runs. Kanoo batted first and scored 338 runs for the loss of 2 wickets. Thanks to Munawwar who scored fine unbeaten century 161 runs which included 14 hits to the fence. Eijaz scored breezy unbeaten 72 runs with the help of 4 boundaries and 3 mighty sixes and Farhat Mahmood retired hurt after scoring 62 runs. Nadeem bowled well and got both the wickets.
In reply, AGE could manage to score only 323 runs. Imran scored a fine century and Waheed scored 68 runs. Sikandar 40 runs and Irfan 27 runs were other main scorers. Eijaz bowled well and took 3 wickets for 55 runs and Affaq and Iqbal took two wickets each.
In another match, Pakistani School beat Al Hoda by 10 wickets. Shoaib batted well and scored 63 runs. SWCC give away walk over to Globe Marine Shipping.
