JEDDAH, 30 April 2004 — Sadafco defeated United Motor Agencies (UMA) by 156 runs with the help of fine century from Ilyas, Contraco beat Young Athlete, IDB nipped Kanoo in a low-scoring match and SGB Baroom overcame Mahmood Saeed with the help of Niaz’s fine century in the fifth round matches of Premier League sponsored by Kanoo and organized by Jeddah Cricket League (JCL).
UMA won the toss and elected to field. Sadafco openers started well, particularly Kaleem in his 27 (4 fours). At the other end Ilyas built his innings with the help of singles and doubles and picked the loose ball to hit in his unbeaten 133. He helped guide his team to 278 for seven in 35 overs. Captain Haroon contributed 37 valuable runs, and a quickfire 35 off 20 balls by Naeem Abbas and 36 extras boosted Sadafco. Waseem was the pick of the UMA bowlers taking 4 for 37.
In reply UMA slumped to 122 all out in 25.3 over against the battery of Sadafco, who were without Siraj Khan. Only Waseem managed 35 off 50 balls and Mr. Extras contributed 24 runs. Naeem Abbas bowled well to capture 4 for 28 runs, Hamran had 2 for 30, Rizwan picked up 1 for 21 and Ibrahim took 2 for 2 in 1.3 overs.
Contraco made 301 for 5 in their 35 overs, as Contraco batsmen were in full cry, with Babar in a punishing mood. He scored a super 96, while Sheraz 34, Kaleem 23, Rashid 29 and Irfan 15 off 8 balls contributed along with a stylish 72 from Shehzad. Hussain and Shakeel took 2 wickets each while Javeed took one wicket. In reply Young Athlete were restricted to 225 for 7 in 35 overs, losing by 76 runs. Javeed was outstanding with 81 runs and Hussain contributed a valuable 42. Amjad and Kaleem took two wickets each while Mohsin Mirza and Irfan took a wicket each.
Kanoo were bundled out for paltry 163 in 29.2 overs, as except for brothers Naeem Amin and Nadim Amin, who scored 52 and 25 respectively, and Irfan hitting 28 runs no one made a major contribution in Kanoo’s 163 against IDB. Atta took 3 for 44, Jawad took 2 wickets while Khawar and Javeed Khan took a wicket each. IDB then struggled in their chase but Rashid Malik’s heroic unbeaten 67 and 26 extras helped the Bankmen to win by two wickets. Naeem Amin’s effort went in vain as he finished with 5 for 38 and Wasif had 2 for 29.
SGB Baroom scored 260 for 8 in 35 overs with Shoeb 52 and Niaz 106 (84 balls) putting on a 132-run partnership. Later Zeeshan 24, Manjeet Kumar 16, Zahid 17, Tariq 15 and 25 extras enabled SGB to rack up the runs against Mehmood Saeed. Shahid was the most successful bowler with 3 for 52, Azeem 2 for 54, Irfan 2 for 33 and Amjad one for 41.
Mehmood Saeed began their reply well but failed to maintain the required run rate despite a 70 runs third-wicket partnership between Asgar and Kashif, and a 45-run eighth-wicket partnership between Aqeel and Amjad. Azeem 46, Asgar 42, Kashif 36, Amjad 22, Irfan 20, Kamran 15 and 15 extras contributed to the tally as Mehmood Saeed were 227 all out in 34 overs leaving SGB victors by 33 runs. Wasiq took 3 for 49 while Mujahid, Zahid, Sohail, Manjeet and Tariq took one wicket each for SGB.
