JEDDAH: The fourth season of Ford Jeddah Champions Trophy Cricket Tournament, sponsored by Ford Al Jazirah vehicles under the co-sponsorship of SBL Trading, Powerbar and Empower Contracting, came to an end with double delight for host Azizia Deccan as they eased past Hyderabad Royals by 29 runs in the final to be crowned champions.

Having won the toss and elected to bat, Hyderabad Royals batsmen never seemed to be their usual best against some hostile bowling by Azizia Deccan pacers who never let the Hyderabad Royals batsmen settle in, picking wickets at regular intervals to finally bundle them out for a paltry 69. Asif Agwan was the chief destroyer for Azizia Deccan picking up 3 wickets, followed by Amjad, Javed and Idrish who chipped in with 2 wickets each. For Hyderabad Royals Ishtiyaq was the top scorer with 15 runs.

In reply, Azizia Deccan started disastrously as they chased target of 70, and scored only 18 runs and lost 2 crucial wickets off the first 5 overs. However, a belligerent 49 not out by tournament top scorer Minhaj who shared an unbroken 3rd wicket stand of 56 with Ishaq (12 runs off 12 balls) saw them romp home with 8 wickets and 23 balls to spare.

Minhaj was named the Man-of-the-Match as well as the Batsman-of-the-Tournament for his stupendous performance with the bat. Muzaffar from Etihad Jeddah CC was Bowler-of-the Tournament, while Ilyas from KAKO CC was named Player-of-the-Tournament for having dominated both the batting and bowling charts for 8 continuous weeks prior to the semifinals.

The presentation ceremony saw some prominent faces from Trevi ASC, Ford Al Jazirah vehicles, SBL Trading Powerbar and Empower Contracting and Saudi Archirodon as guests.

When asked to express his thoughts on the tournament, Aasif – a representative of the tournament sponsor Ford — was quoted as saying “every sponsor needs a reason to sponsor the tournament, but I don’t even need any reason, the way these people go about organizing, the way they handle it, I don’t think there is any better organizer than Azizia Deccan”.

Hyderabad Royals 69 off 14.2 overs: Ishtiyaq 15, Irfan 13; Asif Agwan 3 for 11, Idrish 2 for 10, Amjad 2 for 11) lost to Azizia Deccan 74 for 2 off 11.1 overs: (Minhaj 49 not out, Ishaq 12 not out; Kamran 2 for 6) by 29 runs.

Award winners

Man-of-the-Match: Ahmed Minhaj Abbas.

Man-of-the-Series: Ilyas (Kako CC).

Batsman-of-the-Series: Ahmed Minhaj Abbas (Azizia Deccan).

Bowler-of-the-Series: Muzaffar (Etihad Jeddah CC).

Fair Play Trophy: Nazar Guys.

Hat trick: Babar (Mimco ICC).

Fastest Fifty: Ilyas (Kako CC).