YANBU, 3 October 2004 — Cricket in Yanbu got a big boost with two phenomenal matches played over the weekend between Yanbu Cricket League and the Jeddah Cricket League.
The beautiful and at the same time grand YCL cricket ground became the first venue in the Kingdom to host a day-night match under floodlit conditions.
The match between the Under-17 teams of the two leagues will be remembered for years to come. It was stretched into the last over and fortunes fluctuated evenly throughout the 25 overs of each team. In the end, luck favored JCL and they managed to bowl out YCL team in the last over just three runs short of the required 187 runs.
The spectators, enjoying a cool breeze blowing from across the Red Sea, were on their toes appreciating and applauding the heroics of the young batsmen, fielders and bowlers.
Batting first, JCL U-17 had scored 186 runs in their allotted 25 overs. The bulk of those runs came from a scintillating knock from their vice-captain Omar Riaz, who scored 92 runs.
Everybody was unanimous that JCL managed to win the match through sheer luck. There were no two opinions that YCL U-17 was a far superior side, having been coached by the veteran Shahbaz Baig.
“My boys played very well. They went down fighting. That should be the spirit. They forced JCL to go into the last over. This match will be remembered for ever,” he said.
The regular match between JCL and YCL was equally fascinating. There were runs galore. JCL scored 323 runs of their allotted 35 overs. But they were no match for what was to come from YCL’s Shahbaz Aslam. YCL achieved the target in the 31st over.
He scored his career-best 220 not out beating his own previous record of 216 runs at the same ground. He hit huge sixes and JCL bowlers looked clueless in the face of his aggressive innings.
“As long as he was there we knew the game was open,” said YCL President Abdul Jabbar Hussain. “In the end he was the difference between victory and defeat.”
Jabbar Hussain was ecstatic at the successful conclusion of the two games. “This is a teamwork. I thank everybody here in Yanbu who contributed to making the event a success,” he said at the prize-distribution ceremony.
Shahid Amin, president of JCL and the man widely credited for promoting the game and taking it to greater heights in the Kingdom, congratulated the winning teams. “There can be only one winner,” he said. “I invite the Yanbu teams to Jeddah for playing another set of match,” he declared to a thunderous applause from the gathering.
Shankar of YCL and Amjad and Kumar Krishnan of JCL officiated as umpires for the two games.
(A detailed story of the two matches with pictures will appear in this week’s Friday Sports Weekly.)
