YANBU, 7 May 2004 — The YCL/Al Yasrah Cricket Tournament, sponsored by Jotun Paints, began with six teams participating.
The YCL thanked Jotun Paints for coming forward to promote cricket.
Jotun Paints, Royal Commission (A), Royal Commission (B), Blue Star, Cristal and Safra are the teams in fray.
Royal Commission (B) began their campaign with a shock victory over Cristal. RC (B) opening pair Dr. Aamir (46) and Muneer gave them a sound start of 45 runs in just 4 overs. Aamir was also involved in a fine stand of 55 with captain Muhammad Riaz (43) before being out for 46 runs. In came young Mujeeb (37) at the fall of Aamir’s wicket and supported his captain to forge a partnership worth 37 runs. At the end of 20 overs RC (B) had scored 177 runs for the loss of 7 wickets. Farooq and Rizwan took 2 wickets each while Shazad took one.
RC (B) fast bowlers Refai, Azmath and Nasir then bowled a good line and length and did not allow the Cristal batsman to score at the required run rate. Their star batsmen Ahmedullah, Rizwan and Arif were out cheaply. Khushnood and Moiz almost took the match away with some fine batting, but Moiz’s fall to a superb catch tipped the scale RC (B) way. However, Nasir and Khushnood tried to keep the score board moving but also fell to a fine catch for a fighting 67. Riaz was declared the man of the match for his fine 43 and 2 wickets for 19 runs.
In the second match, Blue Star defeated RC (A) by 8 wickets. RC (A), on electing to bat, had an early jolt when Qadir was caught by Ather off the bowling of Salman. Sunny also was caught by Ather off the bowling of Tabrez leaving them at 35 for two. Shahnawaz (32) and Riyaz tried to build the innings but Riyaz too was caught by Ather off the bowling of Basharat for 35. Others did not contribute much and the RC (A) team was all out for 142 runs. Basharat took 3 wickets and Qasim took 2 wickets.
Blue Star started their innings brightly through Qasim and Shaukatullah (16), but it was the second-wicket partnership between Salman and Qasim, worth 97 runs, that boosted Blue Star. Qasim scored 58 runs. Amoudi came in and completed the formalities. Salman was declared the man of the match for his undefeated 56 and 2 for 28 runs.
