JEDDAH – AOT defeated Dopco Young Stars and Hala Academy Blue thrashed favorites AMI Juffali in the semifinals of the Afternoon event while Al-Mazroi XI had the last laugh against ALJ Toyota and Al-Saudi defeated Johnson Control to enter the final of the Summer Morning Tournament here at WPCA. AMI Juffali batting first was all out for 153 through Imad 25, Asif 26, Nadeem 17, Imran 16 and Shaboor 16. Hala Academy Blue bowlers did not allow any liberty to the Juffalis. Shafi took 3-16, Abdul Aleem 2-16, Hyder 2-21 and Shahbaz 2-35. Hala Academy Blue lost wickets early but Saim Sherwani hammered an unbeaten 72 in just 38 balls and Ramzan cracked an unbeaten 51 in 31 balls to get to the required 157-3 with 9 balls to spare. They also produced 117 runs for the unbroken fourth wicket. A wicket each went to Asif, Shaboor and Mohammed in a very dismal performance by Juffali. Saim Sherwani was adjudged the Man of the Match. AOT batted first against Dopco Young Stars to pile u p 173-7 through Pervez 47 (in 20 balls with 7 fours and 2 sixes), Hamza Shahid 30 not out and Uzair 23. Jamshed took 3-33 and Tauseef 2-29 while one wicket each went to Saif and Zeeshan. In reply, Dopco Young Stars was bundled out for 127 as Uzair grabbed 4-24, Rafeeq 3-24, Hamza Shahid 2-40 and Abid one. For Dopco Young, Waqas made 34 in 19 balls, Zeeshan 21 and Afzal 19. Uziar was adjudged the Man of the semifinal.
Morning tourney Al-Saudi XI, using the track first against Johnson Control, racked up 183-9 in 108 balls through Ghayour Sajjad 41 (5 fours and a six), Nazeer Farooqui 34, Zeeshan 33 and Abbas 28. Saeed took 3-43 and one wicket each went to Waseem, Irsahd and Ahmed. Johnson Control, in response, crumbled for 141 and lost by 42 runs with only Khubab making 85 runs in 53 balls with 11 sixes and 2 fours. None from his team could cross the double digit mark. Nadeem took 3-17, Fouad 2-17 while one wicket each was claimed by Nazeer, Adil, Munzir and Abbas. ALJ Toyota opted to bat first against Al-Mazroi XI and was restricted to 137-9. After a good a start veteran Khalil Dawood just ran through the ALJ Toyota batting lineup along with Abdullah. Khalil Dawood took 4 wickets for 14, Abdullah 2-25 and Faizan one wicket. Adil top scored with 29, Imran 28, Zahid 20, Rizwan 17 not out and Rafaqat 15. Al-Mazroi XI, in response, reached the victory target of 138 in 87 balls with 5 wickets in hand. Salman again played a gem of an innings of 40 not out, Sufiyan Lehri made 35, Faisal 20 and Faizan 18. Mudassir took 2-34 and one wicket each went to Bilal, Rafaqat and Rizwan.
