JEDDAH — Saudi Arabia cricket team, under Saudi Cricket Centre’s (SCC) development program, participated in a Four-Nation 50-Over Quadrangular Tournament in Nairobi, Kenya, and finished second recently.
Qatar, Kenya and Uganda were the other three teams. After the league matches, top two teams — Saudi Arabia and Kenya — qualified for the final.
Kenya registered a comfortable six-wicket win over Saudi Arabia in the final. Saudi team, opting to bat first, scored 292-9. Hamad Saeed top scored with 76, Mohammad Afzal made 58, Mazhar Abassi 47, Inyat Saaed 41, Muzafar Majeed 22 and Faiq Habib 16. E. Otieno and NM Odhiambo took 4 wickets each.
In response, Kenya achieved the target in 39.4 overs for the loss of four wickets with an impressive 126 by DM Gondaria. CO Obuya contributed 44, R.R. Patel 32, Rakep Patel 46 and R.N. Patel 25. Ibrar-ul-Haq, Mohammad Afzal, Nadeem Javed and Muzafar Majeed took one wicket each.
Earlier in the league stage, Saudi Arabia beat Uganda by 37 runs. Uganda won the toss and put the Saudi team to bat first. It was all out for 241 in 42.2 overs. Inayat Saeed led the scorers with a century (132). Abdul Waheed (43), Mohammad Afzal (14) and Faiq Habib (10) were the other main scorers.
In response, Uganda was bowled out for 203 in 45.3 overs. Ibrar-ul-Haq took 4 wickets, Nadeem Javed 3, while Mazhar Abbasi, Mohammad Afzal and Mohammad Shoaib got one each.
In another match, Kenya beat Qatar by 113 runs. Kenya batted first and tallied 355, powered by a century by Irfan Kareem. In reply, Qatar folded up for 238.
In the third league match, Kenya defeated Saudi Arabia by 16 runs. The Saudi team won the toss and put Kenya into bat. Kenya scored 305-9 through Rakep Patel (93), Irfan Kareem (56) and Kiran (44). Mohammad Afzal claimed 4 wickets and Mohammad Shoaib 3.
In reply, Saudi Arabia scored 289, helped by a fine century by Abdul Waheed (118). The other main scorers were Muhsin Shabeer (68), Muzafar Majeed (33), Anyat Saeed (21) and Nadeem Javed (11). Nelson Odhiambo grabbed 4 wickets and Shem Ngoche 3.
In another league match, Qatar prevailed over Uganda by five wickets. Uganda scored 265. Qatar achieved the target in 47 overs. In the fifth league match, Uganda defeated Kenya by 5 wickets.
Saudi Arabia qualified for the final by defeating Qatar by 3 wickets in the last league match. Qatar batted first and put on 270. Imran Ashraf hit 61, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman 59, Noman 39 and Mohammad Owais 33. Mazhar Abbasi took 3 wickets, Ibrar-ul-Haq 2, while Nadeem Javed and Shoaib Ali got 1 each.
Saudi Arabia achieved the target in 47.5 overs for the loss of seven wickets. Abdul Waheed made 59, Mohamamd Afzal 58, Hamad Saeed 55, Mazhar Abbasi 30, Faiq Habib 28 and Anyat Saeed 15. Tamoor took 3 wickets.
