DAMMAM: Matski Maritime will sponsor the 2013-2014 edition of the Eastern Province Cricket Association (EPCA) league, which took off recently.

Twenty-eight teams are taking part in this league, 11 in the premier division, nine in division I and eight in division II.

In the first week Premier Division matches, a splendid all-round performance by Irfan Farooqui helped Sikander Farooqui CC rout Gulf Steel by 51 runs.

SKF 305 for 4 (Irfan Farooqui 108, Imran Farooqui 52, Mudassir Farooqui 51; Wirasat & Mubeen 2 wickets each) beat Gulf Steel 241 (Sunny 49, Umer Lodhi 44, Faraz Ashfaq and Irfan Farooqui 3 wickets each).

Naveed Nomi’s maiden unbeaten century helped Marooj Rawan beat Pak Saudi by 8 wickets.

Pak Saudi 219 Runs (Asif Abid 83, Gulam Sabir 3 wickets). Marooj Rawan reached their target for the loss of 2 wickets with useful contributions from Shahid Siddique 52 and Imran Choudary 40 not out.

Captain Munawar of AlDossary gave a fine all-round performance to help his team register a 13-run win over TFT. AlDossary batted first and scored 257 runs with superb innings of 70 runs from Munawar, well supported by Akhtar Mahmood’s 64. Iftikhar took 3 wickets. In reply TFT were bowled out for 244 runs. Kashif Meher scored 65 runs while Umar Butt remained unbeaten on 39, which wasn’t enough to get pass AlDossary’s target. Munawar took 3 wickets.

In a nail biting thriller, AlGhamdi beat Bin Delamah CC by 5 runs. AlGhamdi made first use of the track and put up 245 for 5 (Ahmed Raouf 42, Anser 62, Bilal Butt 53 n.o, Tariq Tanveer 34 n.o; Sohrab got 2 wickets. In reply Bin Delamah managed 240 for 8 in their allotted 30 overs (Tanvir 56, Waseem Malik 52; Bilal Butt bagged 3 wickets).

In the first division, champions Bin Delamah Adpco started their campaign with a 3-wicket win over EI Plus Arabia. EI Plus Arabia 163 for 9 (Moazzam 43 runs, Tanveer & Silva 3 wickets) lost to Bin Delamah 164 for 7 (Nabil Butt 45 runs; Shahid Shuja & Salemmullah Dar chipped in with two wickets).

ABawardi scored a comfortable 39-run win over Royal Kashmir. AlBawardi scored 231 for 4 (Basheer Irshad 76, Parvez Khan 59). In reply, Royal Kashmir were bundled out for 192 (Arif 39; Shijil Ahmed & Meherullah took 3 wickets each).

Fresh from their T20 Championship victory, AMPS Friends XI beat Harley-Davidson by 46 runs. Friends XI at one stage were 122 for 8. Salmanuddin blasted 77 runs off 29 balls to help his team finish with a respectable total of 220 runs. Shiraz Usmani’s effort of 5 wickets went in vain as Harley-Davidson was bundled out for 174 runs (Gulam Mujtaba 63; Yahiya Gul 5 wickets).

Muqeem Ali’s 5 for 22 helped Khobar Badshahs make short work of DHL by 91 runs. Khobar Badshahs scored 238 (Kashir Ashraf 61, Waqas 50, Saad Khan 66; Moiz took 4 wickets, Rehan & Imran bagged 2 each) beat DHL 147 all out (Raja Manazhir 38; Muqeem 5 wickets)