Dr. Sayed Ziauddin JEDDAH — Al-Saudi-XI downed undefeated Nestle Milo to emerge the Hyundai MYNM Afternoon champion of the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) Tournament, which was sponsored by Hyundai Mohammed Yusuf Naghi Motors. Al-Saudi-XI won the toss to put Nestle Milo in to bat which looked a wise decision as Nestle Milo lost its half of the side for just 42 runs. Faheem made 17 and Ahmed 12. Later, Imran plundered 56 in 42 balls with 2 sixes and 4 fours as he added 65 for the sixth wicket with Asim who scored 27. Aijaz Butt smashed 26 in 14 balls with 3 sixes and a four. They took the tally to 145 adding 38 in just 16 balls. Nestle Milo again lost 3 wickets for the addition of just 2 runs to be stranded at 166. Rehmat took 2-30, Mazhar Abbasi 2-8 and Adil 2-34. Sajid got one wicket. Al-Saudi-XI responded like champion as it got the required runs (170), losing 4 wickets in 107 balls. Ghayour Sajjad made a solid 48 in 33 balls with 6 hits to the fence. He added 85 in 60 balls with prolific Mazhar Abbasi who blasted an unbeaten 76 in 44 balls with 5 sixes and 3 fours. Nazeer Farooqui made 9 to hit the winning post. Al-Saudi thus remained as the only undefeated in the Afternoon Tournament. In the process, Nestle Milo missed a hat trick win as it had earlier won both the Afternoon Tournaments of this season. It also stayed undefeated until the final. Aijaz Butt, Faheem, Faiyyaz and Qasim took a wicket each. The Match was umpired by Attaur Rehman and Imran. The awarding ceremony, which took place soon after the final, was graced by Nadeem Nadwi, CEO, SCC; Zulfikhar Choudhry, Sr. Vice president, WPCA; Sadiqul Islam, Khurshid Zafar, Imran from Dopco, Nasir Iqbal from AOT and Ilyas Siddiqui. The stellar player of the championship Mazhar Abbasi stole the show by bagging five awards — Man-of-the-Tournament, Best Batsman, Best Wicketkeeper, Man-of-the-Semis and Man-of-the-Final. The other award winners were: Adil Sami — Best Bowler; Haroon Zahid — Man-of-the-Semis.
