JEDDAH: Zinda Tilismath will take on Natco Saudi Arabia while ACE Travel clashes with Brothers-XI in the semifinals of the Division I cricket league, sponsored by ACE Travel and organized by the Jeddah Cricket Association.
In the last leg matches held on Friday, Zinda Tilismath ended the unbeaten run of Natco Saudi Arabia beating them by 44 runs.
After winning the toss, Natco Saudi Arabia preferred to field. After the fall of a couple of wickets Zaman and skipper Sadathullah got together and kept the scoreboard ticking, rotating the strike intelligently. Zaman was more aggressive and scored an unbeaten 87 (11x4, 4x6) as he slogged it out in the last couple of overs, which cost Natco 50 runs and took the total to a respectful 171 for 4.
Sadathullah gave him able support with a patient 38. Niaz took two wickets.
In reply, Natco made a bad start losing the wickets of consistent Fahad, Jawad and skipper Humayoon cheaply. They never recovered from this, losing wickets at regular intervals and never looked like achieving their target. Shaad was their highest scorer with 32 runs while Imran got 24. Zahid took 4 for 433 while Ghulam took 3 wickets.
At ground No. 4, Brothers-XI routed Rawi by 9 wickets.
Batting first Rawi made a paltry 132 for 8 in the allotted 16 overs as the top order caved in tamely. Shamsheer and skipper Sher Ali made 39 and 27 runs respectively.
Syed Afroz and Asghar took two wickets each.
Brothers-XI reached their target for the loss of only one wicket. Openers Anwar Khan (42) and Afroz (63 n.o.) got off to a flying start with a stand of 100 runs.
