JEDDAH — A new cricket fiesta, dubbed as United Premier League (UPL), has been launched to promote the softball cricketers, Saudi youth and corporate sector. “We are delighted to provide an opportunity to the cricket community of Jeddah to get engage in softball cricket throughout the year under the flood lights. We are having a great turnout of competitive teams and looking forward to have excellent competitions,” said UPL Chairman, Niyas Arakal. He confirmed that United Premier League has comprehensive plans to promote softball cricket among Saudi youth. He said that the first Saudi tournament would be announced shortly. In the opening match of the first UPL T10 tournament, Rising Stars defeated Al Max by 8 runs in a thrilling showdown. Batting first, Rising Stars staged a recovery after the departure of its opener Tahir and raised the team's total to 117. Aamir and Waqas brilliantly put up a partnership of 76 in the first 6 overs. Aamir hammered 41 (3 sixes and 3 fours), while Waqas scored 35 in 23 balls. There were 30 extras. Azim, Rukshan and Sulaiman took one wicket each. Chasing a competitive 117, Al Max struggled early on as it lost 3 wickets for 32. Later, Azeem played a splendid innings of 37, including 5 fours and a six to post a respectable 109. Hafiz and Sulaiman too supported him with 16 each. Al Max lost by 8 runs. In the second match, Target Guys worked handsomely for their 9 wickets win over Kerala Strikers. Facing some ruthless bowling from Nazeer, who mopped up 3 wickets for 13 runs, Kerala Strikers never survived from the early shock. Wickets fell rather too regularly and the innings was quickly folded for 58. Yasir and Shihab scored 16 and 14, respectively. Aadil, Irfan and Salahuddin shared one wicket each. Taking advantage of fast outfield, Rahim made an excellent start hammering 32 in 15 balls. Sathar was caught at midwicket for 9, while Shareef remained unbeaten on 13. Target Guys achieved the target in 5.2 over. The last match of the day was won by Lothers against Jeddah Indians by 46 runs. Winning the toss, Lothers men seemed to know their way around and reached 106 after losing 4 early wickets for 33. The star batsman Sahil Ejaz Butt was the backbone as he hammered 30 in 12 balls with 5 fours and a six. Some assertive batting from Mushtaq (18) and Fazil (14) caught the eye. Yasir of AISJ claimed 3 for 25, while Shabab, Abdul Waheed and Imran took 1 wicket each. Wickets then tumbled for Jeddah Indians as they were bundled out for 60. Abdul Waheed (13) and Qaisar (10) redeemed some honor by touching double figures. Fainas underlined class, taking 5 for 5.
