The early morning cold wind during the match between Makarim Riyadh and Novotel did little to dampen the desire of team captain Kamran as he piloted Makarim Riyadh to victory in the 16th Annual Riyadh Inter-Hotels Cricket Tournament 2015.

The tournament is hosted by Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers through the kind patronage of GM Paul C. Dunphy for the benefit of the children of UNICEF.

Makarim won the toss and elected to field. Put into bat, Novotel started on the wrong foot as the first partner of opener Rizvi was bowled out on the first ball, and Makarim restricted Novotel to only 106 runs. However, Saleem showed some resistance as he batted for 60 runs with 4 sixes, but throughout the match Makarim kept tight grip of the match, using its efficient bowling at the right time. The rest of Novotel players contributed only 46 runs. Mubasher was the best bowler from Makarim as he surrendered only 17 runs in 4 overs and got 3 wickets. Iqbal also produced good bowling in his 4 overs taking 3 wickets for only 19 runs.

Makarim opening pair Abdulkarim and Kamran did not last longer as Abdulkarim was the first wicket to fall after 5 runs and his replacement Fayyaz did not manage to stay longer after 14 runs. The tandem of Kamran and Iqbal produced a healthy 30 runs partnership which led to Makarim victory. The highest scorer from Makarim was Irfan with his 3 sixes and 1 four in his 29 runs. Makarim won by 6 wickets in 13.03 overs. Sameer was the best bowler from Novotel, taking 2 wickets for only 15 runs in his 4 overs quota.

In the afternoon match, Ritz Carlton’s opening pair was a disaster as Raghu was bowled out in the first ball and Ahmed Farhan was caught for a duck. However, the tandem of Muhammad Remeez and Hafeez enjoyed a scoring binge of 53 runs with Rameez hitting 5 sixes and a four before he was caught by Susantha and Hafeez on 52 runs not out with 7 sixes on record. Ritz Carlton set the target of 187 to win for Al Faisaliah A team. Al Faisaliah bowlers captain Susantha, Rilwan and Wasantha claimed 2 wickets each.

Faisaliah Team A started its batting to chase the target with the strong tandem of Fahim and Mohamad Rizwan. Fahim made 36 runs with 3 sixes and 2 fours before he was bowled out by Terrence while Rizwan added 43 runs with 4 sixes and a four before he was also bowled out by Farhan.

The best Al Faisaliah Team A can manage was 158 runs in 16 overs with the loss of 7 wickets. Ahmed Farhan of Ritz Carlton was the best bowler taking 4 wickets for 33 runs in his 4 overs quota, while Terence Olagasekara took 2 wickets with 45 runs in 4 overs. Ritz Carlton won by 28 runs.