Stars bag NCB cricket championship

Nadim Anwar JEDDAH — NCB Stars team emerged champion in the second edition of the NCB Cricket Championship at the floodlit ground in Baghdhadiyah Gharbiyah here recently. The tapeball cricket tournament witnessed the participation of six teams – ITC InfoTitans, ML Stikers, NCB United, NCB Stars, TCS Hawks and TCS Thunders. The tournament was sponsored by National Commercial Bank (NCB) and special awards were sponsored by NCB Quick Pay. The teams were divided into two groups. After nine preliminary league matches the top two teams from each group qualified for the knockout semis, which was followed by the final. In the semifinals TCS Hawks upset defending champion TCS Thunders and NCB Stars defeated ML Strikers. The final was witnessed by a large crowd, including cricket fans, bankers and techies working at NCB. NCB Stars team won the toss and elected to bat. Fine batting by captain Faisal Waqar Saleem and Muneeb Khan helped the team put on a huge score of 159 runs in 10 overs. Unbeaten Muneeb Khan played a spectacular innings of 80. In reply, TCS Hawks was bowled out for 74, handing Stars a big 85-run victory. Faisal Waqar Saleem won the Quick Pay Highest number of Sixes award, Ramesh Subramanian the Best Catch prize and Shariq Ata the Best Spectator award. Other performance awards: Faisal Waqar Saleem — Best Batsman of the Tournament; Ali Imran — Best Bowler of the Tournament; Muneeb Khan — Man of the Series; ITC InfoTitans — Best Team on fair play, best discipline and good presentation. There were special events for kids, spectators and guests, with exciting Quick Pay goodies for the winners. Chief guest Saleh Saleh, CIO of National Commercial Bank, graced the final. Ali Al-Khalifa, head of software development; Esmat Fauzi, head of IT Operations; Mohammad Al Maghrabi, head of service management; Moataz Al Ansary, HR manager, employee activities; P. Hashim, client partner, Tata Consultancy Services and Bassil Abu Shakra, director, operations, Microland also attended the final. Saleh congratulated the winner and the runner-up, organizers and all the teams. He promised similar events in future, as these events are aligned with the NCB’s strategic aspiration to be the “Employer of Choice”. The chief guest also encouraged the employees to engage in sports activities, as it helps to a healthy body and mind and promote camaraderie amongst colleagues. Senior management from ITC Infotech, Microland and Tata Consultancy Services promised to be a part of future editions of the championship. A grand final presentation ceremony was held after the final and was compered by Nadim Anwar.