RIYADH: The Riyadh Cricket League 2014-15 season took-off with the Twenty20 cricket league, sponsored by Power Zone.

Twenty-eight teams are taking part in this tourney, divided into three divisions (Super, Premier and Premier-II). The Super Division will consist of seven teams, 10 in the Premier and 11 in the Premier-II.

An opening ceremony was held at the RCL Complex, which was attended by all affiliated teams and committee members.

During the ceremony RCL provided wooden stumps to all teams, which was sponsored by Power Zone, to be used during the 2014-15 season. Earlier steel stumps were used.

There was a run-glut on the opening day and all matches tended to be one-sided affairs.

The highlights of the day was, centuries by by Taher Bin Jaffar and Tahir. Other batsmen who impressed were Zahiruddin Khalid and Sunil Chandekar. Among the bowlers, Babar, Ameer Afzal and Saeed looked devastating. Rashid Mirza and Tahir dazzled as all-rounders.

OSN’s Taher Bin Jaffar and Zahiruddin Khalid provided their team a solid start with a record 170-run opening wicket partnership.

In the matches played, Super Cricket Club routed Ever Green by 86 runs, Royal Fighters eased past Cricket Samarwa by 6 wickets, Pure Health defeated Maestro by 5 wickets, Pak Cricket Club got the better of Run Riderz by 67 runs, OSN Warriors made short work of Kokan Green by 78 runs and Riyadh Pirates breezed past Chanar-XI by 77 runs.

Brief scores: Super 214: (Rashid Mirza 83, Noman Mirza 36, Shahid 31; Khawar, Haroon, Mudassar and Razaq took 1 wkt each) beat Ever Green 127: (Ayaz 29, Waleed 22; Babar 5, Rashid Mirza 3, Shahid & Noman 1 wkt each) by 86 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Rashid Mirza.

Samarwa 172: (Amir 80, Waqas 47; Tawaf 2, Tausif & Ather 1 wkt each) lost to Royal Fighters 173 off 17.5 overs: (Madani K 62 runs, Qaiser 47, Ali 16, Mustafa 21; Tasadaq, Amir & Mazhar 1 wkt each) by 6 wkts.

Man-of-the-Match: Madani K.

Maestro 149: (Sunil Chandekar 70, Tariq Ahmed 26; Ibrahim 3, Amir & Khari 2 wkts each) lost to Pure Health 150 off 13.1 overs: (Hasan 46, Jameel 32, Waseem 28 not out; Abdullah Khan 3, Feroz & Sunil 1 each) by 5 wkts.

Man-of-the-Match: Ibrahim.

Pak Cricket Club 165: (Danish 38, Asad 22, Raheel 37; Saleem 3 Shakeel 3, Saleem 2 wkts) beat Run Riderz collapsed 98: (Shakeel 37, Haseeb 22, Mehmood 19 runs) by 67 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Ameer Afzal.

OSN Warriors 228: (Zahiruddin Khalid 92, Taher Bin Jaffar 104, Mazharuddin 25; Aamir 2, Nishad, Rafee & Shakeel 1 wkt each) beat Kokan Green 150: (Manoj 57, Faiq 24, Muzaffar 26; Faiq 1 wkt) by 78 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Taher Bin Jaffar.

Riyadh Pirates 223: Tahir 104, Imran 47, Nadeem 36; Barakat 2, while Tairq 1) beat Chanar 146: (Muneer 47, Adnan 24; Saeed 5, Raheel 2 wkts) by 77 runs.

Man-of-the-Match: Tahir.