RIYADH — Youm Al-Watani Cricket Cup 2016 (YWC-16) was off to a flying start with two high-scoring games as batsmen took the first day's honors. In the first match, Sama Steel won by 28 runs against KFSH Blues. In the other encounter, Pak Shaheen defeated Aamir Holidays by 7 wickets. YWC-16 was inaugurated in the traditional manner as the guests and dignitaries of Riyadh Cricket Association (RCA), GK International Sports Club and the players of participating teams released the doves. Sama Steel, which won the toss and elected to bat, was soon in trouble losing Ramazan Butt for 9 runs and then lost wickets in a heap. At one stage, it had lost more than half of the side for 72 runs. Rizwan Manzoor (167 — 88 balls, 4x22, 6x4), along with Adnan (40 — 40, 4x5) revived the innings and took the score to 323-9 in 37 overs. Asif Khan contributed 28 (18 — 4x3, 6x1). For KFSH, Imtiaz Ahmed (2-57) and Tahir Khan (2-63) were the main wicket-takers. Nadeem Babar and Usman took one wicket apiece. KFSH started its chase on a cautious note with Nasser and Nadeem striking the ball well. However, Naseer (18 — 11, 4x4) fell early to a top edge from Asif Khan's rising delivery. Nadeem Babbar (58 — 50, 4x9) along with Amjed Ali (34) steadied the innings. But Asif Khan's fine stumpings of Amjad and Babar removed the set batsmen and the game slowly tilted toward Sama Steel. Munnawar Shafi (31), Saquib Saleem (30), Khurram Baig (24) and Imtiaz Ahmed (27) also chipped in but fell short by 23 runs. Ramzan Butt (3-49) and Asif Khan (2-54) led the bowling attack. Rizwan walked away with the Player-of-Match award. In the second match, Pak Sheen successfully chased the target of 362 set by Amir Holidays, losing just 3 wickets and more than 10 overs to spare. Electing to bat, Aamir Holidays put up 362-7 in 40 overs, with main contributions coming from the first centurion of the tournament Shams (120 — 75, 4x14, 6x4), Irfan Mushtaq (60 —33, 4x4, 6x5), Abid Syed (47 — 29, 4x7, 6x1) and Samiullah (29). Faisal Khan (4-46), Abdul Waheed (2-42) and Ibrarul Haq (2-62) scalped Aamir wickets. Pak Shaheen batted professionally with Abdul Waheed continuing his batting form from his previous international tour with classical drives and cuts scored an unbeaten 154 (80, 4x24). A quickfire 50 (24, 4x8, 6x2) from Ibrarul Haq laid the foundation for victory. Inspite of being injured during batting captain Wahab Khan consolidated the position with a fine 83 (43, 4x12, 6x1). Ishaq Ahmed made 58 not out (20, 4x8, 6x3). Pak Shaheen reached the target in 29.3 overs. Abdul Waheed was awarded the Player-of-Match award for his all-round performance. The committee decided to use two special colored caps during the tournament — pink cap for the leading run-scorer and red for the leading wicket-taker. Rizwan Manzoor of Sama Steel and Faisal Khan of Pak Shaheen will be the proud ones to wear the first pink and red caps at the end of two games. Friday's games (from 7:30 a.m.): Aamir Holidays vs. GK Stars (ground 9).
