JEDDAH, 24 May — In the inter-school Under-15 cricket tournament being organized by Jeddah Cricket League and sponsored by Saudi Gazette entered into the semifinal stage. Madaris Saad Bin Abi Waqas mopped Continental School with an extreme authority. Pakistan International School (Urdu) anchored their win over Pakistan International English Section. Al Waha stiffened their supremacy by defeating Manarat School. Indian International School, eyeing on the upcoming final, defeated Jeddah Prep by 45 runs.
Continental, the top ranked team in Group D, scored only 135 runs in the quarterfinals. Continental got through a rough start when they lost Ryan in 2nd over bowled by Ayman at the total of 13.
Their struggle deepened when Umair, their master blaster, and Yousaf failed to add runs to the team’s tally. Kasim’s 33 and Saad’s 26 were the only sterling effort to give their team a respectable score. Hussain, as usual, stunned the Continental’s batsmen with his flighted deliveries. He took 4 wickets for only 16 runs and well supported by Ahmad who grabbed 2 for 11.
Ayman, Ammad, Aqeel and Ahsan took 1 wicket each. In reply, Saad Bin Abi Waqas comfortably scored the required runs. Ayman 45 and 3 fours and Rizwan 37 and 6 fours propelled their team’s score with the fine performance. They hammered all continental bowlers throughout the innings and sealed a win in just 12 overs.
Hussain blasted 25 runs in 12 deliveries with the help of 4 boundaries. Zuhair 1 for 16 and Umair 1 for 39 were the only successful bowlers.
Sharing the spotlight, Pakistan Urdu Section aligned themselves to the column of the winners.
They recorded a comfortable win when they bundled out Pakistan English Section for a scanty 78 in 17 overs. Urdu Section was in total control throughout the innings as their bowlers never allowed any batsmen to hit them on will.
The highest share came from Zaeem and Imran who scored 15 and 10 runs respectively. Shoaib, with a fractured wrist, was still unplayable. He captured 4 for 16 in 4 overs and was well-supported by his colleague Sabieh who took 3 for 10 in his inspirational effort.
Pakistan Urdu Section overtook the lead in the 12th over for the loss of 2 wickets. Hasanat, after loosing its partner Afzan (17) in 4th over, took the initiation and played a sound innings of unbeaten 28 to lead his team to the victory. Sabieh (15 n.o.) was the other contributor. Al Waha International School outplayed their opponent Manarat International in another quarterfinal. Eager to win, Al Waha virtually dominated all aspect of the game and came away with a 10 wickets win. Manarat scored only 66 runs and were all out in 14 overs. None of their batsman reached to the double figure.
On the assault, energetic bowlers of Al Waha shattered Manarat batting lineup with the superb line and length. Uneeb anchored with 4 and Usman with 3 wickets giving 18 and 15 runs respectively. Al Waha’s openers, Ali Ashraf and Zaid opted for the best way — the attack. They took charge from the first ball with an extreme perfection and finished the innings in just 6 overs. Zaid fired 39 runs in 18 balls hitting 7 deliveries to the fence and Ali Ashraf remained unbeaten on 15.
Indian International School displayed a cohesive show of teamwork when they defended their orthodox total of 145 runs against Jeddah Prep. Sohail scored a steady 28 runs to lift his team’s hopes when the failure of middle-order batting put Indian School into trouble.
Nawab 17 and Fawad 25 n.o. stayed on the wicket till the last over to provide their team a reasonable total. Their efforts did pay off when Jeddah Prep were all out for 100 runs in 20th over. Sanjay 20 and Sarfraz 10 were the main contributors to Jeddah Prep’s innings. Sohail of Indian School sparked with 3 wickets haul for only 9 runs to show his all-round ability.
Arshad 2 for 11, Mudassar 1 for 16 and Rishtaz 1 for 17 did the rest with some brilliant fielding efforts.
