JEDDAH: Unbeaten for the last three years, My Care Hala were once again crowned MoneyGram premier division cricket league champions when they eased past Crown Steel by five wickets in the final organized by Western Province Cricket Association.

In the Afternoon final, MBCC upset favorites Nesle Milo by six runs in a Twenty20 thriller.

New Young stars scored a comfortable eight-wicket win over Stallions to claim the Morning Twenty20 final.

In the premier match, Crown Steel were off to a solid start after being put into bat by their rivals. Opener Khurram Karamat missed his century and was the top scorer with 92 runs off 59 balls. Karamat and skipper Shafeeq (30) were involved in a 129-run partnership.

One down Nadeem Amin compiled 48 runs. However, the batsmen that followed caved to some fine bowling and excellent fielding as none crossed the double-digit mark to finish with a total of 240.

Man-of-the-Match Faheem Afrad grabbed 3 for 37 and held 4 catches. Khurram Haneef took 3 for 58, Adnan Liaqat 2 for 35 and Amjed 2 for 50 were the main wicket takers.

My Care Hala clinically chased their target and scored 241 for 5 with 11 balls to spare. Qamar Abbas hammered an unbeaten 77 off 75 balls while his partner Kashif Shafeeq compiled 73 off 56 balls.

The two added 139 runs. Babar scored 32. Ghulam Riyaz 3 for 36, Abuhuraira 1 for 42 and Shoaib Ali 1 for 46 were among the wickets. The umpires for the match were Waseeq Sherwani and Imran.

In the Afternoon, MBCC piled up 160 for 8. Operners Waqas and Haroon Rana scored 45 and 28 respectively. Once the openers were back in the pavilion wickets fell at regular intervals. MBCC were reeling at 99 for 4. Later, Rashid steadied the rocking boat with an unbeaten 36. Sher Bahadur 2 for 11 and Haroon Zahid 2 for 20 shared four wickets.

In reply Nestle Milo wickets at regular intervals and were restricted to 154 for 9. Iftikhar Ali tried his best and top-scored 53 off 32 balls. However, none of his colleague were able to give him the required support. Azhar did most of the damage and claimed 4 for 24. Nasir got 3 for 33.

Umpires for this match were Sohail Shah and Zafar Iqbal.

In the Morning final, Stallions opted to bat but failed to take any advantage and put up a total of 161 for 8. Hassan Ali remained unbeaten on 55 off 43 balls. Arsalan (24) and Zakir (26) were the other scorers. Rafaqat claimed 3 for 37 and Imran 2 for 45.

New Young Stars achieved their target off 96 balls and scored 163 for 2. Man-of-the- match Amir blasted and unbeaten 103 off 52 balls. He added match-winning 76 for the unbroken 3rd wicket with Bilal Adnan (25).

Zafar and Saleem supervised the match.

Shakeel and Farrukh were the scorers for the finals.

Nadeem Nadwi was the chief guest while Sadiqul Islam, Khurshid Zafar, Asim, Sohail Shah, Zahid Qureshi, Kheleel Dawood, Nadeem Shabbir and Khaleel Kazi were among the other guests.

The premier league winners’ trophy

was jointly received by Babar Hussain and Hamid Afandi. Runner-up cup was handed to Shafeeq of Crown Steel. Skipper of MBCC received the winners’ cup for Afternoon league while Nestle Milo skipper raised the runner-up trophy. Captain Shabbir Kiyani of New Young Stars had the privilege of lifting the Morning league trophy as Hassan Ali of Stallions was happy with the runner-up cup.

Individual performance awards were given as follows:

Premier

Best Batsman: Kashif Shafeeq

Best Bowler: Adnan Liaqat,

Man-of-the-Tournament: Abuhuraira.

Best Wicketkeeper: Imran Azam.

Afternoon

Man-of-the-Tournament: Usman Gulab. Best Batsman: Bilal Iqbal Malik.

Best Bowler: Nasir of MBCC

Best Wicketkeeper: Adnan Khan.

Morning:

Man-of-the-Tournament: Rafaqat.

Best Batsman: Aamir

Best Bowler: Adil of

Best Wicketkeeper: Humayoun.