Crown Steel stormed into the final of the 40-over Dopco Premier Cup after defeating My Care Hala in the first semifinal at the WPCA grounds here. The Dopco Cup is being sponsored by Dopco Company and managed by WPCA. Crown Steel will face the winner of the second semifinal between Al-Saudi and Dopco Stars in the final. In the Morning Tournament, ALJ-Toyota was declared winner against GD Design, ATS defeated Marine Services Blue and Otex humbled QRCC. Crown Steel, which opted to bat first, was off to a flying start with skipper Shafeeq hammering 39 in just 19 balls. Later Hammad Saeed blasted 57 and Ahmadullah hit his third consecutive fifty by top-scoring with 71. They added 129 runs for the second wicket, taking the team to 187-2 in the first 20 overs. After the break, Shoaib Ali made 22 and Fahad added 37. Abu Huraira first added 52 for the 7th wicket with Abid Naseem (40) and remained unbeaten on 63 in 23 balls to post a mammoth total of 372-7. Mohammed Tayyab had 2-61, Kashif 2-75 and Faheem 2-82. My Care & Hala, chasing almost 9.23 runs per over, lost openers early (41-2) but Qazzafi (44) and Rahat Ali (38) took the tally to 125. But in the space of 2 runs both were sent back and MCH was on the back foot. Waqas coming at No. 5 tried to stabilize the innings but he hardly got any support from the other end as Shoaib Ali (4-47) and Hussain Bhatti (2-58) just did not allow any freedom to the MCH batsmen. Faheem Afrad contributed 19 and Waqas Ausaf hit 87 in 56 balls. MCH lost the match by 73 runs. Man of the Match Abu Huraira claimed 2-53 and Shafeeq took one. In the Morning Tournament, QRCC, batting first against Otex, posted 165-6 as skipper Salim top-scored with 47 and Yasser added an unbeaten 45. Ejaz took 2-12. Otex was home with 166-6 in 96 balls. Majid scored 65 in 30 balls and Imtiyaz hit 34 not out. Saleem had 2-34. ATS defeated Marine Services Blue after it had set 143. __
