RIYADH – The 7th week results has jumbled the team standings further and made it difficult to say which teams will eventually book their semifinals berths in the Youm Al-Watani Cup (YWC) 2016 here. Lahore Lions easily overcame Riyadh Aces; Pakistan Falcons edged Amer Holidays and Lahore Badshah downed GK Stars in thrilling finishes. Hamza Abbasi of Falcons received the red cap for topping the wickets tally. In the 15th match of tournament, Player-of the-Match Hamza Abbasi's all-round performance helped Pakistan Falcons defeat Amer Holidays by 1 wicket with 5 overs to spare. Amer Holidays captain Samiullah called the coin correctly and opted to bat. Shams blasted 123 to give his team a good start along with Samiullah (37). Irfan Mushtaq was out quickly. Kifiyat added 44 and Shabbir 32 to take the score to a formidable 292-8 in 40 overs. Arif Hussain claimed 4-39 and Hamza Abbasi 2-49. Falcons had a sedate start with Wasim scoring 39 and Ahmed Junaid 32. Hamza Abbasi arrived at the crease when Amer Holidays was taking hold of the game. Hamza scored a fine 131 (82 balls) with Mathiullah (30) and Arif Hussain (20). A sudden collapse of wickets added thrill to the situation. Falcons finally crossed the target in the 35 over with 1 wicket in hand. Samiullah took 4-50 as Mohsin and Shabbir took 2 each. The 16th match of the tournament saw Lahore lions thrash Riyadh Aces by 214 runs. Lahore lions captain Muzaffar elected to bat and the team piled up 400-9 in 40 overs. Ubeid remained unbeaten on 92, while Qamar hit 92 and the captain 81. Amer bagged 2-58 and Umar 2-80. In reply, Riyadh Aces was bowled out for 186 in 29 overs. Opener Saddam scored 84, Imran 25, Abubaker 25 and Umar 24. Muzaffar sent 5 of the top Riyadh Aces batsmen packing to become the first bowler of the tournament to take a 5-wicket haul. Muzaffar was adjudged the Player of the Match. The 17th match turned out to be a thriller. GK Stars, already knocked out of the tournament, played its best game. Batting first GK Stars scored 238 in 34 overs. Bilal scored 101, Abubaker 50, Mujahid 29. Imran scalped 3-5 and Yasir 2-31. Chasing an easy target, Badshah lost Mudassir early but Imran (48), Yasir (32), Fahad (27) made useful contributions. Shoaib claimed 3-66 and Abubaker 2-44. Chaudary Nazir with 30 and Adnan an unbeaten 63 changed the complexion of the game. Matches on Friday: Match 18 - Lahore Lions vs. KFSH Blues; Match 19 - CKK vs. Sama Steel; Match 20 - Pak Shaheen vs. Lahore Badshah (all matches at 7:15 a.m.).
