Dr. Sayed Ziauddin
JEDDAH — RCA President XI and WPCA Vice President XI won two matches each, while WPCA Chairman XI, RCA Chairman XI, WPCA Committee XI and MCL won one each in the Hamid Rasheed Memorial Inter-City Cricket Tournament here recently.
Eight teams — two from Riyadh (RCA), one each from Madinah (MCL) and Jazan (JRCA) and four from Jeddah (WPCA) — took part in the one-day tournament, organized as a tribute to Hamid Rasheed, who passed away recently. He was the Sports Administrator at Pakistan International School Jeddah (ES) and also a member of WPCA and SCC.
The event was sponsored mainly by Crown Steel and Nesma and supported by Emper Perfumes, Afaque Perfumes, Al-Asasiyah-Sanyo, Al-Mabani, Waqas Malik Est., Sports Track, Thales Group, Al-Safri and Saudi Cricket Centre (SCC).
In the first match, WPCA Chairman XI defeated JRCA by 110 runs. Chairman XI racked up 217 for 8 with Khalid Butt making 77, Waqas Ausaf 36 and Mohsin 20. Faizan, Asif and Muteeb claimed 2 wickets each. JRCA, in response, was bowled out for 107. Faisal took 4-31 and two each went to Imran and Khalid.
In the second match, RCA XI beat WPCA President XI by 9 wickets. WPCA President XI posted 203 for 8. Farooq contributed 55, Faisal 41 and Irfan Ayazuddin 29. Yasir grabbed 2 wickets. RCA XI, in reply, reached 206 for 1 in 106 balls. Rustam Ali top scored with an unbeaten 99 in 53 balls. He first added 120 runs for the opening stand with Faisal Khan (59) and then 86 for the unbroken second wicket with Erfan Mushtaq (40).
WPCA Vice President XI humbled MCL by 4 wickets. MCL, put into bat, could not go beyond 127 for 9. Omar Sohail scored 27, Arsalan 25 and Imran remained unbeaten on 30. Ebrahim and Ehsan Noni claimed 2 wickets each.
WPCA Vice President XI, in response, lost 6 wickets to get to the winning target of 128 with 3 balls to spare. Rehan made 30. Waqas Akram took 2 wickets.
In another match, RCA President XI got the better of WPCA Committee XI by 5 wickets. Put into bat, WPCA Committee XI produced 166 for 6. Shahnawaz was the highest scorer with 78. Shabbir hit 27 and Faisal Patel 21. Iftikhar grabbed 2 wickets. RCA responded with 170 for 5 in 106 balls. Naser Abbasi stroked 57, Abdulwaheed 54 and Kamran Hadi 28. Abdullah Essa picked up 2 wickets.
In the afternoon, RCA President XI grabbed victory from WPCA Chairman XI on the last ball of the day by 3 wickets. WPCA scored 178 for 8. Humayun scored 40 and Waqas Ausaf 31. Saleem remained unbeaten on 69. Shoaib took 3-30 and Nadeem Babar 3-34. RCA XI made 180 for 7 on the last ball of the day with Nadeem Babar scoring 27, Abdulwaheed 59, Waseem 34 and Ayaz 37 not out. Abdulwaheed, Imran and Shoaib Ali took 2 wickets each.
In another match, WPCA Vice President XI defeated RCA Chairman XI by 8 wickets for its second straight win. RCA made 150 for 9 through Rustam Ali (31) and Ateeq Ahmed (58). Farhan Patel grabbed 4 for 21 and Ijaz Sagheer 2. WPCA reached 154 for 2 in 97 balls as Muneeb Anwer remained unbeaten on 99 off 48 balls and Imran Sarwar hit 33. The duo produced 131 runs for the unbroken third wicket.
WPCA Committee XI beat JRCA by 6 wickets. JRCA compiled 171 for 4. Tahir scored 48, Mohsin 61 and Jahangir 35 not out. Usman Amjed claimed 2 wickets. WPCA, in pursuit, hit 175 for 4 in 106 balls. Shabbir hammered 41, Usman Amjed 62 and Rana Haroon 29 not out. Shahzad grabbed 2 wickets.
In the last match of day, MCL downed WPCA President XI by 6 wickets. WPCA was bundled out for just 76. Faisal Mehmood blasted 27. Hammad Saeed grabbed 3-2, while 2 wickets each went to Imran, Nadeem Aslam and Israr.
MCL reached 80 for 4 comfortably. Saleem German and Waqas remained unbeaten on 31 and 32, respectively. Osama Amjed scalped 3-21.
The awarding ceremony was graced by WPCA Chairman Junaid Iskander, President Zulfikar Chaudhry and WPCA committee Members. SCC was represented by Qasim Naqwi and Sadiqul Islam. The program began with recitation from Holy Qura’an followed by a brief prayer for the departed soul. The eight Man of the Match awardees were presented with gift hampers from Emper Perfumes. All the managers received gift packs from Al-Asasiyah-Sanyo while the captains and vice captains received token of appreciation awards from Afaque Perfumes. Abdulwaheed emerged as the Best Batsman, Faisal Patel the Best Bowler and Saleem German the Best Wicketkeeper.
