BY Dr. SAYED ZIAUDDIN
JEDDAH — Although Crown Steel lost the Qualifier 1 in the semis it has another chance in Qualifier 2 to make the final of the WPCA Premier cricket Tournament.
Zultec has already qualified for the final waiting for the result of the Qualifier 2 next Friday.
In the first match qualifier, Zultec thrashed Crown Steel by 9 wickets. Crown Steel was bundled out for 116. Shafaqat stroked 31, Junaid 26 before being reduced to 57 for 7. Junaid then hit 26. Abdulwaheed bowled menacingly to grab 5 wickets for 11 runs.
Zultec, in chase, took 70 balls to get to 117-1. Amir Sajjad hammered an unbeaten 54 in 33 balls as he added 96 for the opening stand with Waqar (47).
In the match for Eliminator, AOT downed ALS Warriors by 7 wickets. ALS Warriors produced 189. Mohammed Khan hit 53 in 39 balls to add first 78 with Humayun Khan (41) and then 75 with Fahad Sulaiman (55 in 22 balls) after a middle order collapse. Moiz scalped 4-33 and Qaiser Lateef 4-30.
AOT reached 190-3 in 116 balls. Faisal Mehmood hit 41, Gulam Mustafa remained unbeaten on 52 off 40 balls. Naeem Shah made an unbeaten 19 and Rafeeq top scored with 55 in 40 balls. Abdulaleem took 2-29.
Afternoon quarterfinals
Lothers CC, UCC, Fuchs Alhamrani and Waqas Malik XI stormed into the semifinals of the WPCA Afternoon Tournament. Lothers downed Al-Safri, UCC had the last laugh against Aftab XI, Waqas Malik CC got the better of Zultrack and Fuchs Alhamrani defeated Nestle Milo.
Lothers trounced Al-Safri CC by 50 runs. Lothers piled up 213-9. Mohammed Asif smashed 67 in 35 balls as he added 74 with Shiboo (38) after early jolts. Iftikhar then hit 24. Abid Malik scalped 3-56, Aftab Malik 2-20 and Wasiq Sherwani 2-59.
Al-Safri, in chase, lost Saeed on the first ball but then Muneeb made 38 and added 58 with Manjeet Kumar (19). Aftab Malik stroked 39, Moon 23 and Waseem Imran 18. Moazzam Shoukat grabbed 3-28.
Fuchs prevailed over Nestle Milo by 33 runs. Al-Hamrani Fuchs amassed 207 for 4. Ghafour Shah hammered 79 in 42 balls as he added 108 runs in 64 balls for the first wickets with Nazaish (30). Zeeshan remained unbeaten on 34, Khoban hit 20 and Mohsen was run out for 24. Fahad took 2-36.
Nestle Milo was restricted to 174-9. Azeem batted well for 61 in 38 balls as he added 65 with Ijaz Butt (24). Mohammed Yasir hit 29. Nestle Milo lost 5 wickets in the space of 18 runs to be reduced to 140-7. Bilal Malik made 21. Imran scalped 4-29, Mohsen 3-39 and Mustaqeem 2-25.
Waqas Malik beat Zultrack by 4 wickets. Zultrack posted 177-9. Mohsen stroked 28, Kashif 18, Omer Mukhtar 38, Yasir 36, Waqas 18. Abdulrazzaq took 3-39, Fayyaz 2-33 and Waqas Malik 2-45.
Waqas Malik achieved victory (181-6) in 115 balls. Waqas Malik hit 43 as he added 50 with Rana Haroon (48). Rashid Malik hammered a match-winning unbeaten 52 in just 21 balls. Yasir claimed 4-29 and Waqas 2-42.
UCC had the last laugh against Aftab CC by 6 wickets. Aftab CC posted 143. Shahid Sattar hammered 56 in 36 balls and Nayyar Fareed 16 from the top but the middle order crumbled against Ahmed Faraz (4-31) and Amir Mughal (2-41).
UCC reached 144-4 in 108 balls. Ibrar Khan stroked 55 in 46 balls with 4 fours adding 60 with Shahnawaz Khan (31). Ahmed Faraz scored 24.
