By Dr. Sayed Ziauddin
JEDDAH — Friends XI thrashed Crown Steel by 7 wickets to clinch the coveted SCC Premier T20 Cup, while Al-Safri trounced Lothers by 55 runs to win the SCC Afternoon T20 in the tournament sponsored by Saudi Cricket Centre and managed by WPCA.
Amir Sajjad for Friends and Muneeb Anwer for Al-Safri were the batsmen to watch whereas Amjad Jutt of Friends and Waseeq Sherwani of Al-Safri claimed 4 wickets each.
SCC Premier
Friends XI thrashed Crown Steel by 7 wickets to bag the trophy. Crown Steel, opting to bat first, lost the top order early to be reduced to 27-3 as Humayun contributed 16. Javed Iqbal then made 20 and Shafaqat hit 44 as they added a face-saving 61 to get to 88. Shoaib Ali blasted 19, Imran Azam 10 and Waseem 12. Amjad Jutt was the chief destroyer with 4 wickets for 22 runs, Imran 2-24, Umar 2-34, Zeeshan 1-20 and Mohammed 1-23.
Friends XI, in reply, achieved the winning target of 140 for 3 in just 83 balls. Amir Sajjad batted magnificently for his 56 in 23 balls with 5 sixes and 4 fours. He added match-winning 107 in 56 balls for the opening stand with fellow opener Waqas who stroked 49 in 36 balls. Saleem remained unbeaten on 13 and Amjad Jutt on 10. A wicket each was taken by Shoaib Ali (1-40), Mohammed Imran (1-13) and Anwaar Chandi (1-12).
The match was officiated by Kashif Mirza and Nadeem Shabbir. Sohail Shah was the referee. Farrukh did the scoring.
SCC Afternoon
Al-Safri racked up huge 210 for 4 after opting to bat first. Muneeb Anwar smashed 97 in 58 balls studded with 12 fours and 3 sixes as he added match-winning 176 off 83 balls for the second wicket with Hasanat Ahmed hammering 77 with 3 sixes and 9 fours after losing Rehan (2) early. A classy innings by Hasanat Ahmed and the hard-hitting knock by Muneeb just dominated the opponents. Pradeep had 1-33, Shibu 1-30 and Badushah 1-18.
Lothers, in reply, was stranded at 155 for 9 as the top order caved in with Khurram Azeez (10), Yasar(14) and Badushah (0) returning cheaply.
Shamsuddin then played a solid innings of 47 in 30 balls to add 71 with Shibu (35). But once they returned, there was hardly any resistance from the lower down. Waseeq Sherwani bowled well for his 4-26, Aftab Malik 2-43, Manjeet Kumar 2-23 and Abid 1-24.
The match was supervized by Zafar and Hasnain, while Dr. Zia was the match referee. Ilyas Mustafa did the scoring.
The Saudi Cricket Centre (SCC) officials Qasim Naqwi and Sadiqul Islam along with WPCA Executive Committee members witnessed the matches.
