Mohammed Dossary Hospitals (MDH), Al-Khobar defeated Falcon Cricketers by 18 runs in the final to bag the 3rd Shirwa Cricket Cup at the Kanoo Cricket Ground here. The three-week long tournament, which was organized by Shirwa Welfare Association Dammam, saw 16 local teams from Dammam, Al-Khobar and Jubail in action. MDH chose to bat first and began its innings with its regular openers Naseem and Mazhar who blasted 29 runs in just 3 overs. But soon in just two overs it slumped to 39-5. Middleorder batsman Rizwan with his 16 runs and Yazeen helped MDH recover and jump to the final tally of 85 runs in the allotted 10 overs. In reply, Faclon's frontline batsmen failed and the team struggled to 20 for the loss of five wickets. However, its middleorder came to the rescue but with good bowling, fielding and safe catches, MDH restricted its rival to 70 to bag the 3rd Shirwa Cup 2008 comfortably. Rizwan of MDH was adjudged as the Man of the Match. In the semifinals, MDH defeated Colts CC by 16 runs. MDH batted first and scored 70 runs. On the chase, Colt CC was restricted to 55 runs. In second semis, Falcon defeated Strickers by 8 wickets. Strickers batted first and made 83 runs. Falcon Cricketers easily achieved the target with 8 wickets in hand. After the final, Shirwa Welfare Association's General Secretary Siraj Ahmed presented detailed about the activities of the association. The guest of honor Imtiaz Hameed of SLSC and Shabeer Shaikh, President of Shirwa Welfare Association, awarded the prizes. The committee lauded the hard work of all the members of Shirwa Committee for conducting tournament and sparing the proceeds for the welfare of poor and needy people of the coastal village in Mangalore District in India. __
