ALKHOBAR, 12 April — In the SVM Cup Knockout Tournament semifinal Globe Marine crushed Hyderabad Blues by 6 wickets. Hyderabad Blues batted first and were all out for 142 in the 35th over. Javed and Said opened the innings for Hyderabad Blues. Said was looking dangerous as he scored 13 runs off 5 balls and drove hard but uppishly and Abdul Wahid took a magnificent one-handed catch off his own bowling.
This was the beginning of the downfall of Hyderabad Blues. Prabhakar joined Javed and carried the score to 42 when Naved struck and got the wicket of Prabhakar. At this crucial stage Taj joined Javed and tried to consolidate the innings and put on 60 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket and took the score to 102 when Mohsen struck in his 2nd over and got rid of Taj. After this Mohsen Hashem ripped through Hyderabad batting lineup and claimed 3 more wickets with his superb spin bowling. In his allotted 8 overs he bowled two maiden overs conceded just 29 runs and took 4 wickets.
As wickets started falling in quick intervals Javed batted sensibly and scored a half century before he was smartly caught behind by Adnan off the bowling of Naveed. Soon Naveed wrapped up Hyderabad Blues innings by taking wicket of Gyas in the 35th over as Hyderabad Blues were all out for 142.
In reply, Globe Marine reached the target in the 36th over and in the process they lost 4 wickets. Irfan and Modassar opened the innings but soon Modassar departed playing a loose shot at square leg of the bowling off Suresh. Naveed joined Irfan but he was bowled by Ansar with a beautiful inswinger. Irfan and Ayub tried to consolidate and put on 40 runs partnership for the 3rd wicket when Irfan lost his wicket after scoring valuable 38 runs bowled by Ansar.
Abdul Wahid joined Ayub and the pair put on 42 runs partnership for the fourth wicket and laid the winning foundation. Ayub lost his concentration and was bowled by a good delivery from Nadeem. Mohsen joined Abdul Wahid and the pair batted with discipline played all the ball as per merit and took Globe Marine to a great victory. A. Wahid particularly was in good touch he played very good shots. In his valuable unbeaten 38 runs he hit 3 beautiful boundaries. Mohsen also gave him good support by rotating strikes and remained unbeaten on 11.
In another semifinal, Khalifa Al Gosaibi shocked SVM and beat them by 5 wickets to reserve a berth in the final. SVM batted first and scored 186 before they were all out in the 37th over. Ashraf 38 runs was the top scorer, Amin scored 34 runs and Ayub contributed 25 runs. Eijaz ripped through the SVM batting line and took 5 wickets for 38 runs. Akbar Hussain removed the top order and claimed 3 wickets for 34 runs.
In reply, Khalifa Al Gosaibi reached the target in the 35th over of the match. Openers Akbar and Aamin lost their wickets early off the bowling of Safdar but Eijaz this time showed his class with the bat and scored a useful 32 runs before he was caught behind off the bowling of young leg-spinner Faisal. Faisal struck again and this time his victim was Abbas but Hidayat played anchor role batted magnificently and scored superb 40 runs before getting run out.
Mehdi and Asgar took control of the match after the departure of Hidayat both batted very well put on unbeaten 50 runs partnership for the sixth wicket and took Khalifa Al Gosaibi to final. Asgar remained unbeaten with 32 runs and Mehdi scored a useful unbeaten 28 runs.
In the Premier Division, in a very close encounter, Al Ghamdi beat SPG by 6 runs. Batting first, Al Ghamdi scored 300 runs in their allotted 40 overs for the loss of 8 wickets. Khawar Shaszad the EPCA Star batsman showed his class scored superb century 113 runs before getting run out. He hit 5 classic boundaries and a mighty six on way of completing his century. The in-form young batsman Sadaqat also scored a fine half century with the help of 5 hits to the fence. Riaz Saeed contributed 28 runs before getting yet another run out and Sajjad scored a breezy 24 runs. Tariq bowled well for SVM and took 3 wickets.
Chasing 301 to win SPG opening pair Mahmood and brilliant Talal Iqbal put on 151 runs partnership for the first wicket at the end of 22nd over and laid the solid foundation. Mahmood lost his wicket of the bowling of Riaz for 85 runs and soon Riaz send Talal back to pavilion taking a fine catch of his own bowling. Sadar scored a fine half century before loosing his wicket to Aftab.
Amjad scored 37 runs before Tariq got him out and Inam scored 25 runs before caught by Khawar of the bowling of Sajjad. SPG needed 23 runs in the last 18 balls two wickets remain but they manage to score only 16 runs and lost the important match by 6 runs.
In another match, AGE beat YATA by 62 runs. AGE 316 for 8. Farhan and Imran scored fine half centuries. Faraz 41, Waheed 32 and Nadeem 29 not out were other main scorers. Mazhar bowled well and took 3 wickets. YATA were all out for 254. Shahzad 61 runs was the top scorer, Naeem 43 runs, Asif 34, Najeeb 24 and Asim scored 45 not out. Rizwan bowled very well and claimed 5 wickets including a fine hat trick.
In another match, Kanoo beat Imran Tigers by 5 wickets. Imran Tigers 209. Waseem scored 45 runs, Irfan 33, Tahir 25 and Najam contributed 24 runs. Majaz bowled well and took 3 wickets for 30 runs. Affaq, Bali and Naheed took 2 wickets each. Kanoo reached the target in the 33rd over but in the process the lost 5 wickets. Munawwar played yet another fine innings and scored 87 runs. Abid 32, Eijaz 27 and r 27 runs were other main scorers. Anwar and Ather took 2 wickets each.
