JEDDAH, 17 October 2003 — Mahmood Saeed and Saudia Milk scored contrasting wins over Young Athlete and Contraco Green in the semifinals of the JCL-sponsored Premier Division knockout tournament.
While Mahmood Saeed were made to sweat by a determined fightback from Young Athlete, Saudia Milk sailed through comfortably in a relatively one-sided match by 73 runs. Mahmood Saeed were off to a bad start as they lost two wickets within 3 balls to Ghazanfar.
However, Muhammad Irfan hit 75 in an unblemished knock, which came of only 44 balls and was dismissed with the score at 134 for 4. He was given good support from Wajahat who played a typical gutsy innings of 50 in 38 balls. Later, Aqueel (27) and Amjad (24) batted intelligently to enable them reach 259 all out in 34.4 overs. Ghazanfar with 4 for 27 broke the top order and was supported by Javed, Hussain and Nadeem who picked up 2 wickets each.
In reply, Young Athlete were off to a quick start as Rashid with 33 off 20 balls inclusive of 5 fours and Shahbaz went for the bowling from the start.
In five overs they raced to 52 before Rashid was dismissed. Nadeem played a stroke full innings of 46 at a run a ball before being dismissed. Later the lower order lost momentum and they collapsed from 116 for 2 to 173 for 7 except for Hussain who scored 28 runs. At this stage it appeared all over but a valiant effort by Shabeer (33) and veteran Tauqeer (18) saw them nearly make it before they were all out for 240 runs in the 33rd over.
Amjad took 4 for 48 and was supported by Saleem (2 for 20) to give Mahmood Saeed an exciting win by 19 runs.
Saudia Milk raced to a reasonable score of 258 all out. The openers have a good start putting on 68 for the first wicket with Owais scoring 22 runs and Syed Amer scoring a typical innings of 59 runs studded with 8 fours and a six off 36 balls. Later skipper Anees Malik scored a brilliant 90 runs along with Imran (39).
However the Milkmen collapsed from 202 for 4 to 258 all out as Shehzad picked up 4 for 28 including 3 in an over and Nayaz picked up 3 for 37. In reply Contraco Green batting line up was bundled out for 185, by the subtle pace of Anees Malik (2 for 25), Khalid (2 for 38) and the spin of Owais (2 for 31). Only Baber stood solid scoring 70 runs with support from Azeem (41) after their team was reduced to 38 for 5.
They were eventually bundled out for 185 to give Milkmen an easy win by 73 runs.
Contraco Green scored an impressive win over Sadafco by 16 runs in the opening match of the JCL Premier Division knockout tournament. Contraco Green put on a fighting score of 277 for 8 in 35 overs with Mohsin Mirza top-scoring with a stylish 62 runs He was ably supported by Azeem (50), Nisar (43) and Niaz (26).
Naeem with 3 for 52 and Haroon Abdullah with 2 for 47 bowled well to restrict them. In reply Pervez led the run chase for Sadafco with an impressive knock of 89 runs. He was given support by Ilyas (39) and Ibrahim (31) with Zafar earlier scoring 26 runs.
Sadafco collapsed to the bowling of Mohsin (3 for 43) to cap in a fine all round performance and Shakeel picked up 2 for 64. Although Sera Khan led a rear guard action with a fine innings of 43 runs, Asarco succumbed for 261 runs to give Contract Green a win by 16 runs.
