JEDDAH, 26 December 2003 — The Indian Chartered Accountant XI overwhelmed the JCL Executive Committee with an emphatic 9 wicket win in a festival match sponsored by the Accountants and organized by JCL.
Winning the toss and batting first, JCL Excom got off to a bad start as Dinesh bowled Naeemullah with the second ball of the match and followed it up with another beauty to claim Muzaffar in his second over. In the 5th over of the innings Tauqeer Shah played a powerful square cut, which was brilliantly held by Dinesh off the bowling of Azhar.
JCL Excom were tottering at 14 for 3 before Aijaz Khan played a gem off an innings rotating the strike with some fine placements coupled with some powerful shots off the front foot and some fine hooks to the fence. He was given good support by Izaz Toor, who scored 15 before holing out to Ashfaque off Sarwar.
JCL President Shahid Amin came in but did not last long as he was run out — beaten by a fine throw from Nadeem Bhamla. JCL Excom lost wickets in quick succession following the departure of Aijaz Khan, who made a brilliant 46 runs studded with 4 fours. Azhar bowled a fine spell picking up 3 for 16, Dinesh took 2 for 15, Amin 2 for 17, Irfan Bhimdiwala 2 for 25 and Sarwar 1 for 28 as JCL were all out for 125 runs in 18 overs.
In reply, the Indian Accountants opened with skipper Merchant and Aamir Khan both of whom were very watchful and got off to a sedate start not willing to take risks. Aamir did the bulk of the scoring hitting 2 sweetly timed fours in his 21 before he was bowled by Ahsan Rafae with the score at 38.
Thereafter it was Amin and Merchant all the way. They took their time to settle initially and then slowly opened up with some fine strokes. Amin was the more aggressive and punished loose balls, dispatching it to the fence with panache. He hit 5 fours in his unbeaten 42 runs whereas Merchant, the more cautious, scored an unbeaten 35 runs with one four as the Accountants reached the target of 126 for 1 in 15 overs.
After the match the prize distribution ceremony was held at the ground. A. A. Merchant thanked JCL Executive Committee for the efforts in successfully organizing the match. He praised the JCL President Shahid Amin for his unstinted support to the cause off cricket in Saudi Arabia.
In turn Shahid Amin thanked the Indian Accountants for sponsoring the event and said that such event should be regularly held for the benefit of the cricketing community. The Indian Accountants President Saquib Agboatwala thanked Shahid Amin, Mohammed Iqbal and their committee for their support in organizing the event. He then presented momentos to both Shahid and Iqbal on behalf of the Indian Accountants. The best batsman award was given to Merchant for his unbeaten 35, the Best Bowler to Dinesh Somani for his fine spell of 2 for 15 and the Best All Rounder to Amin Kasir for his unbeaten 42 and 2 wickets for 17.
