The first week of action in Castrol T20 Cup organized by Riyadh Cricket Association saw a flurry of centuries here. The first came off the bat of Rasheed Mirza of Sialkot Cricket Club. He played a brilliant innings of 132 runs to guide his team to a comfortable 54-run victory over Mehran Cricket Club. Taking first strike Sialkot scored 216 runs in the allotted 20 overs. It has to thank Mirza and Eijaz Raja (60) for their 112-run partnership. Mirza's knock was decorated with 15 fours and 5 sixes. Shehzad and Osman took two wickets each for Mehran. Chasing a big total, Mehran was all out for 162 runs. Altaf (32) and Osman (30) were the main scorers. Imtiaz, Mirza and Raja picked up two wickets each for Sialkot. The second match saw SAMBA Cricket Club rout Kashmir XI by 47 runs. Batting first SAMBA made 249 runs for two in 20 overs and then bowled out Kashmir for 202 runs. M. Hasnain (78 runs) and Kashif Khan (119 runs) gave SAMBA a 150-run opening partnership which helped the team put up such a huge total. Tabraiz chipped in with an unbeaten 35. Riaz Ahmed (52) and Waseem (46) gave Kashmir a good start but the other batsmen could not maintain the momentum and were bowled out for 202. Dilshad bagged two wickets for SAMBA. Friends Cricket Club also began the tournament with an 18-run win over Al Eid. Chasing 245 Al Eid was bundled out for 226. Friends openers Tareq Javed (68) and M. Saeed (57) flayed Al Eid attack for a 102-run partnership. Qasim also played a brutal innings of 89 runs (9 sixes and 4 fours) to help their team put the huge total on the board. Muneer Rana, Afzal Pasha and Arshad took two wickets each. Al Eid in reply put up a good fight but fell short by 18 runs. Arshad Mahmood hit 76, M. Kamran 47 and Afzal Pasha 28. Amir Shah picked up three wickets for Friends. In Division B Fuchs Cricket Club registered an 8-wicket win over Aces XI. Fuchs scored the required 148 runs for the loss of two wickets in 11 overs. Batting first, Aces XI crumbled against some good bowling by Waqas Aslam (4-32) and the whole team was out for 147. Fuchs raced toward the target with the help of an unbeaten knock of 92 (2 sixes and 8 fours) by Fuchs captain Waseem. Super Cricket Club started its campaign with a 35-run win over Seham Cricket Club. Super scored 196 runs in 20 overs, thanks mainly to Baber Mirza (43), Abid Meraj (31) and Rafique (30). Taher bowled well to take four wickets for Seham. Seham Cricket Club failed to keep its chase on track and was bowled out for 161 runs. Taher (45) and Waseem (49) tried to salvage the situation but in vain. Riaz Ahmed took 4 wickets while Siraj bagged two Super. __
