ALS takes on Friends as Nestle faces Waqas

Dr. Sayed Ziauddin JEDDAH — In the WPCA Summer Afternoon quarterfinals, Nestle Milo defeated Crown Steel, Friends XI had the last laugh against IDBG, ALS Warriors crushed APF by 7 wickets and Waqas Malik XI held its nerves to down Al-Safri by 2 wickets here recently. Nestle Milo thrashed Crown Steel by 6 wickets. Crown Steel, opting to bat first on a hot and humid afternoon, could manage only 122. Faiq Habib emerged the highest scorer with 42 as he added a face-saving 48 with Javed Iqbal (24) to get to 74 for 4 from 26 for 3. Once this partnership was broken it lost wickets in a heap to be bowled out for 122 after being 99 for 5. Abdullah Zahid took 2-23, Bilal Malik 2-11, Ijaz Butt 2-12, while a scalp each went to Ehsan, Adaalat and Sher Bahadur. Nestle Milo, in reply, reached 123-4 in 98 balls to win. Ejaz Butt made 24 to add together 51 for the opening stand with Bilal Malik (35). Imran Sarwar scored 32, while Azeem and Sher Bahadur made an identical 11. A wicket each was claimed by Qamar, Imran and Shoaib Ali. The match was supervised by Sohail Shah and Imran Asad. Friends XI had the last laugh against IDBG by 12 runs. Friends amassed 208-9. Amir Sajjad hammered 70 in 34 balls with 3 sixes and 8 fours as he added 46 for the 2nd wicket with Anees Malik (21). The other contributions came from Noor Butt (26), Niaz (14), Umair (26), Muzzaffar (30) and Saleem Khan (12). Mohammad Farooq took 2-36, Khawar Sohail 2-41, while one wicket each went to Abdullah Shah, Ghulam Mustafa and Babar. IDBG, in chase, had a fine start through Khawar Sohail smashing 54 with 3 sixes and 6 fours and Rahat Chaudhary (25). Khalid Butt then hit 39 as he added 50 with Ghulam Mustafa (27). Mohammad Farooq remained unbeaten on 26 to be stranded at 196. Umair took 2-40, while a scalp each was claimed by Anees Malik, Samer and Wajahat Shah. The umpires were Nadeem Shabbir and Zafar Iqbal. ALS Warriors humbled APF by 7 wickets. APF, opting to bat, lost wickets at regular intervals to be reduced to 53 for 7 and eventually was bundled out for 94, thanks to Abdulaleem who took 4 for 9. Siddique compiled 27, Waseem 21, Hasnain Ali an unbeaten 18 and Fouad Shams 13. Shahbaaz grabbed 3 for 15, Safiuddin 2-15 and Haider one. ALS Warriors, in reply, got to the victory (96-3) in 83 balls. Emaduddin hit 23 as he stitched 55 with Mohammad Khan (26). Talha made 13, Abdullah Essa an unbeaten 15 and Mohammad Amjad 10 not out. Fouad Shams claimed 2-24 and Siddique one. The umpires were Kashif Mirza and Mian Zafar. In the last match, Waqas Malik XI cruised past Al-Safri after a mid-innings turbulence by 2 wickets. Al-Safri XI could get to 149-8 after a disastrous start of 14 for 3. Aftab Malik played sensibly to remain unbeaten on 63 off 49 balls with a six and 6 fours as none from the other end could support him. He added 52 with Rizwan (21) before he had a suicidal run out. Waseeq Sherwani scored 13, Manjeet Kumar 10 and Abid Malik 12. Zahoor, who pushed the opponents to the back foot, took 3-26, Abdur Razzaq 2-23, while Amir and Junaid had a scalp each. Waqas Malik XI started well with Hafiz Ali making 43 in 22 balls and Azeem 14. Waqas XI riding high at 64 for 1 lost wickets in a heap to be reeling at 65 for 4 as Waseeq Sherwani claimed 3 wickets in 3 balls. Later, Rashid (25) and Farid (22) repaired the damage. Once this pair was separated the team once again lost the way to be 126 for 8. In a tricky situation Junaid (16 n.o.) and Tauseef (15 n.o.) took the team to win (150-8 in 106 balls). Waseeq Sherwani took 3-27, Aftab Malik 3-31, while Rizwan and Manjeet Kumar took one each. The umpires were Mudassir Raja and Zafar.