Cricket Tournament in Sana’a [Archives:2005/895/Local News]
During the Eid break, cricket tournament got underway in Sana'a after a gap of almost 6 years. In all 6 teams entered the tournament with participated players from British, Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh nationalities. This was possible mainly due to sponsorships from Dove Energy Limited, Qatar Airways, Al Wehda Club, Group 4 Securicor, Mega Products, Petrochem Performance Chemicals, Schlumberger and Villa Di Angelo.
First Match
Match was played on the 4th November, Pakistan Club won the toss and elected to bat first. Innings was steadied by brilliant batting from Ethesham (54), Azam (39), Mustafa (21) & Arif (20). Pakistan Club set a target of 185 runs to Dove Energy XI to be achieved in 25 overs.
Dove Energy XI's innings started on a shaky note with fall of early wickets. Some hard hitting by Jomon (29), Vinod (37) and Johnson (22) steadied the innings and made the match quite exciting. Excellent bowling by Pakistan Club restricted the flow of runs and match was won by them by 21 runs.
Second Match
On the 5th November, Arabian Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first. Innings was built by excellent and steady stroke play of Aminuddin M (32), Shital Somaiya (25), Amin Butt (22) & Tameez (16). Target of 163 runs was set for Adnan Cricket Club to be achieved in 25 overs.
Adnan Cricket Club also had a shaky start with fall of 3 early wickets. It was left to Nishant (23), Tabreez (14), Nazakath & Vaseem (12) to chase the set target. Arabian bowlers came back and restricted Adnan Club to 107.
Third Match
Match was played on the 6th November, Pakistan Club won the toss and elected to bat first. After a shaky start again Adnan (83), Azam (30), Sajid (19) scored freely and set a target of 195 runs for Friends Cricket Club.
Friends Cricket Club innings started on a positive note. Mohammed (28), Salim (24), Nabil (30), Afsar (21) played excellent shots and were hitting ball all round the park. After the break, middle order collapsed and wickets fell like nine pins. Friends Cricket Club fell short of the target by 46 runs.
Fourth Match
On the 11h November, Friends Cricket Club won the toss and elected to bat first. Innings had a steady start with Binu (32), Anthony (31), Nasrol (25), and Mohammed A (22) among the main scorers.
Chasing a target of 165 runs Dove Energy XI innings was built along runs scored by Johnson (31), Dave Evans (20), Terrance Freese (15) and Munahar (13). Good bowling from Friends Cricket Club resulted in slowing down the scoring rate and collapse in the lower order resulted in them wining the match by 42 runs.
On conclusion of 4 matches, Pakistan Club and Friends Cricket Club from Group B have made it to the Semifinals. Remaining 2 semifinalists will be decided from the matches to be played on the 18th and 25th November.
Final of the Sana'a International Cricket Trophy will be played on the 9th December 2005 at Al Wehda Foot Club ground in Hadda Madina.
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