RIYADH, 29 December 2006 — Sameer K Lodhi played a magnificent innings to guide Manarath School to an exciting win over Pakistan International School (PIS) (Sulaimanya) in the second week of the Arab News Cup for under-19 boys.
The tournament is organized by Riyadh Cricket Association. The match was played on RCA ground 1. The match result was decided on the last ball of the 20th over. Four runs were needed on the last ball of the match but Ali Bajwa hit the ball for a boundary to big cheers from Manarath supporters.
Batting first, the PIS boys made a competitive score of 211 in the allotted 20 overs. Saad Khizer played splendidly to make 95 runs with the help of 13 boundaries. He was well supported by Salman Iqbal who made a valuable 39 runs. Waqas Anwar also chipped in with a brisk 26 runs to take the total of PIS to 211 runs. For Manarath Ahmed Khaled Raja took two wickets for 46 runs. Manarath started the chase in a confident manner with Sameer in good form. He played the strokes with authority on both sides of the wicket and made 82 runs. Ramaiz Khan (44 runs) and Ali Bajwa (29 runs) gave him good support to reach the target. For PIS Waqas Anwar bowled well for 3 wickets.
Sameer Lodhi of Manarath School was declared Man of the Match. There will be no matches during the next three weeks due to Haj holidays. The matches will resume on Jan. 11.
Following is the schedule:
11 Jan. — Indian International School vs. Manarath Al Riyadh School; Pakistan International School (Nasseriya) vs. Jawahar Al Riyad School Pakistan International School (Sulemaniya) vs. Sri Lankan School; 18 Jan. — Pakistan International School (Nasseriya) vs. Bangla Desh School Middle East School vs. Jawahar Al Riyad School; Sri Lankan School vs. Manarath Al Riyadh School; 25 Jan. — Pakistan International School (Sulemaniya) vs. Indian International School Middle East School vs. Bangla Desh School.
Semifinals will be played on Feb. 1 and the final on Feb. 8.
