JEDDAH, 28 May 2004 — Saudia Majestique beat GCI by 5 wickets in an exciting match at Juffali ground, while Nader Toor made short work of their sister team Babar Toor, winning by 9 wickets at Hempel Paints ground in the quarter finals of Division II Friday League. Talha Optics comfortably beat Earnest Young in the consolation cup in the event organized by Jeddah Cricket League (JCL).
GCI elected to bat and their prolific opener Irfan chalked up 51 of 41 balls with the help of four hits to the fence. Then Imran, who scored 78 (8x4) valuable runs for his team, looked comfortable and played some delightful strokes all around the ground as GCI made 171 for 5 in 18 overs with the help of an additional 17 extras.
In reply, Saudia Majestique's openers started well, in particular Zahid, who scored 35, while at the other end Amjad made a sedate 27 to keep the score moving. Naeem Khan started well and made 12 runs but he became the 4th victim of Saleem Butt. Zubair, who contributed an unbeaten 28, and Salim Butt's 42 runs took Majestique to victory with 5 wickets in hand and in 17.5 overs. Saleem Butt took 4 for 33.
Babar Toor scored 107 all out in 15 overs with only Tareq scoring 27 runs, just one short of extras which were 28. Nader Toor's Rahil took 3 for 17, Nader 3 for 22, Murtuza 2 for 18 and Nadeem 1 for 15 as they bowled a tidy line and length to contain their opponents to the lowest total in the matches played so far. Nader Toor achieved victory in just 11.3 overs with the help of Murtuza's unbeaten 50 and a solid 40 by Nader and 17 extras. They made 108 for the loss of just one wicket.
Talha Optics Beat Earnest Young
Earnest Young batting first scored 148 for 4 wickets in the allotted 18 overs with the help of Javed 41, Sarwar 35,Naeem 22 and 32 extras. For Talha Optics Tariq took 2 wickets. Assad and Imtiaz picked up one wicket each.
In return Talha Optics lost their openers cheaply but Adil, their star batsman, played well and scored a half century and Imtiaz scored 36, Mohsin 20 and 20 came from extras as they cruised to victory in 15.4 overs. Sarwar of Earnest Young took three wickets but his efforts went in vain.
