Semifinals lineup set in SCC tourney

By Dr. Sayed Ziauddin JEDDAH – Al-Safri will play Milo, while Lothers will face Fuchs Alhamrani in the semifinals of the SCC Cricket Tournament after winning their respective quarterfinals matches at WPCA grounds here. In the first match, Al-Safri defeated Awesome Iklil by 64 runs. Al-Safri, opting to bat first, piled up 209 for 4. Hasanat Ahmed blasted 108 in 56 balls with a six and 17 fours. He added 137 in 75 balls for the 2nd wicket with Muneeb Anwar, who hammered 59 in 37 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Awesome Iklil, in reply, could manage only 145 for 9. Ahmed made 18 and Asad 42 to provide a solid start, but the middle order collapsed as Zaheer (20) and Abdulrehman (16) made some impact. Aftab Malik was the pick of the bowlers with 4-18, Asad 2-20 and Wasiq Sherwani 2-26. In the 2nd tie, Lothers humbled Natcom by 117 runs. Lothers racked up 200 for 7. Khurram Aziz smashed 45 in 29 balls to add 83 with Yasir who top scored with 60 in 34 balls. Shamsuddin contributed 18, Badushah 16, Shibu 18 and Mushtaq 27. Qadeer was the most successful bowler with 5 wickets for 33 runs. NATCOM, in reply, was restricted to 83 for 9 as Abdul Basit stroked 27, Zahoor 14 and Amir Shahzad 19. None of the other batsmen could reach double digits. Badushah destroyed Natcom with 5 wickets for 26 and Salah bagged 2-19. Fuchs Al-Hamrani downed UCC in the third outing by 5 wickets. UCC posted 153 for 7. Ali Raza compiled 37 and Shahnawaz Khan stroked 38 as the two added 67 for the 3rd wicket after early setbacks. Ahmed Faraz remained unbeaten on 18. Fuchs Alhamrani took 104 balls to get to 154 for 5. Zeeshan smashed 51 in 38 balls and Nazaish 29 as the two added 67. Khuban Awan remained unbeaten on 44 off 19 balls to win with 4 balls to spare. Abid Ali took 2-20. Nestle Milo crushed Jotun Paints by 8 wickets to advance. Jotun Paints was bundled out for 89 with only two batsmen crossing the double digits as Usman scored 30 and Mazhar 15. Ahsan emerged as the wrecker-in-chief with 4-14, Bilal Malik 3-24 and Abdullah Zahid 2-27. Nestle Milo, in reply, had no difficulty whatsoever to get to the winning target of 90 in 74 balls with 8 wickets in hand. Abdullah Zahid remained unbeaten on 36 and Fayyaz 15.