RCA, EPCA share honors in Alhamrani FUCHS intercity cricket event

Riyadh Cricket Association and Eastern Province Cricket Association shared the honors in the Inter-City cricket matches sponsored by Alhamrani FUCHS Petroleum in Dammam recently.
Four matches were played between RCA (Riyadh Cricket Association) and EPCA (Eastern Province Cricket Association) as part of the historical intercity event, which was sponsored by Alhamrani FUCHS Petroleum. In the two 40-over matches, RCA President’s XI got the better of EPCA President’s XI by 16 runs while in the second outing EPCA XI scored a comfortable six-win over RCA XI.
In the first T20 match, RCA Patron XI beat EPCA XI by 18 runs while later EPCA Youth XI eased past RCA Youth XI by 6 wickets.
In the first 40-over match, RCA President XI won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Nouman Asghar (47) and Abdul Wahab (64) started well and put on 118 for the first wicket. After the stand was broken, the Riyadh outfit lost wickets at regular intervals. However, Rizwan Manzoor (63) and later Omar Zafar (28) propped up the innings and helped their team put up a reasonable score of 284 all out.
Sadiq grabbed 3 wickets while Osman Ghani and Tajamal Hayat got 2 wickets each for the bowling side. EPCA President XI were bowled out for 268 in reply. Safiullah top-scored with 64 runs. Tajamal Hayat (49), Sadiq Rafiq (33) and Murad Khan (26) were the other contributors. Abdul Wahab took 4 wickets and Shoaib got 2.
Man-of-the-Match: Abdul Wahab.
In the second match, winning the toss and electing to bat first RCA XI started aggressively with openers Nadeem Babar (55) and Nasir Abbasi (21) looked in great form. They had an opening partnership of 57. After the fall of Abbasi’s wicket, RCA XI lost wickets regularly.
Later, Muzaffar Majeed held the middle order together and scored a stubborn unbeaten 54. Rizwan Qayyum was the pick of the bowlers for the bowling team as he took 4 wickets. Khawar Sohail and Nasir Khan chipped in with 2 wickets each. RCA XI were all out for 228 off 37.5 overs.
EPCA XI made a bad start as they lost an early wicket. However, Monawar Chaudhry (89) and Sohrab (66 not out) held the innings together. Rizwan Qayyum and Ahmed Rauf also played well and scored 21 and 24 respectively as the hosts achieved their target off 36 overs. Kamran Hadi took 2 wickets for RCA XI while Nadeem Babar and Arsalan Rana got 1 wicket each.
Man-of-the-Match: Monawar Chaudhry
In the first T20 match, RCA Patron XI batted first and scored 244 for 9 off 20 overs. Openers Nadeem Babar (45) and Nasir Abbasi (38) were off to a flying start as they scored 89 off the first 6 overs. Fahad Malik (36), Irshad (27) and Imran Younous (19 not out) batted aggressively and took their team’s total to 244.
Chasing a huge target, EPCA XI openers Shahbaz and Salman also started aggressively and took 26 runs of the first over bowled by Ibrar Ul Haq. However, thereafter they lost wickets at regular intervals and were all out for 226. Waqas (53), Shahbaz (50) and Waheed 32 were the main contributors but fell short by 18 runs. Zahid Mir of the rival team did most of the damage and took 5 wickets.
Man-of-the-Match: Zahid Mir.
In the last match, RCA Youth XI batted first and managed 134 off 20 overs. Iftikhar was the highest scorer with an unbeaten 40. Abdul Salam (35) and Kausar (17) were the other run getters. Danyal, Hamza and Muneer got a wicket for EPCA. The Riyadh team did a good job on the field with their accurate bowling and fine fielding which made the target look difficult for EPCA who reached to the target during the last over of the match. Iftikhar bagged 2 wickets while Abdul Salam and Kausar got 1 each.
During the prize distribution ceremony, shields were interchanged between RCA and EPCA officials. RCA CEO Nadeem Babar presented shields to EPCA Chairman Abdulaziz Al Naimee and EPCA President Farhat Mahmood. RCA General Secretary Nasir Abbasi presented shield to the EPCA General Secretary Marghoob Ahmed Khan.
EPCA also presented shields to RCA President Tariq Javed, Nadeem Babar and RCA General Secretary Nasir Abbasi.
Speaking on the occasion, Nadeem Babar has said that RCA and EPCA are two biggest cricket associations in the Kingdom and their cooperation is long lasting. The winners, runners-up and individuals were presented with their trophies RCA Senior Vice President Abdul Karim Khan thanked EPCA Executive Committee members for their hospitality.