Important matches were played in the JCL Morning League which is being sponsored by Jeddah Cricket League. Mohtareef won against Omar by a slender margin of 5 runs, BTC at last won its match against UCC, Johnson Control got the better of ATS, Pak Saudi proved superior to IDB and Attieh Steel thrashed Reel & Rom. IDB electing to bat first put up 136 for 6 in 18 overs as Adnan was retired for 46 off 36 balls, Muzammil made 38 in 23 balls. Pak Saudi achieved the target in 99 balls. Qadeer played a fine innings of 42 in 32 balls and Amanullah stroked 35 off 25 balls and Wasim hit 21. Owais got 2-31. Johnson Control, batting first, against ATS stroked 132 for 9 in 17 overs as only Nasir scored 36 in 19 balls. Shams got 2-36, Yusuf took 2-24 and Furqan scalped 2-21. ATS chasing this moderate total was all out for 113. Furqan (28), Nadeem (23) and Shams (31) were the leading scorers. Saeed took 3-32, Farook had 3-6 in 8 balls and Gafoor bagged 2-29. Reel Rom came up with 133-5 in allotted 18 overs against Attieh as capatin Franky played a fine innings of unbeaten 35, Nasar made 22 and Imran 21. Faiz took 2-23. Despite a fine all-round performance by Franky who took 2-12 Attieh was home in the 16th over as Shahid made 51 in 30 balls and Shahid got 28. Mohtareef requiring to win this match to qualify for the semifinals scraped to a 5-run victory over Omar. Omar requiring 115 to oust Mohtareef from the semis was bowled out for 109 as Goshi took 3-20. Zahid made 27 n.o. and Ramazan hit 20. Afridi took 2-2 in the last over. Earlier Mohtareef was restricted to 114 as Zahid bowled well to take 3-10,. Ramazan claimed 2-18 and Khalid 2-20. Anjum made 34, Sami 26. BTC won against UCC by 5 wickets as UCC put up 149 for 6. Muthar was run out for 45 and Dr. Bashir hit 22. Dawood (32) and Awar (21) took BTC to victory with 2 balls to spare. Dr. Bashir took 3-27. The previous week saw 6 matches. Omar barely got through the target set by UCC for its straight win, IDB defeated ATS comfortably, Mohtareef thrashed ALJ by 88 runs, Gentec won against lowly-placed BTC and Attieh tied with Hamrani. Attieh Steel, batting first, put up 137 for 7 in 18 overs as Shahid made 27 and Kamran hit 22. Nadeem got 2-21. Hamrani, chasing a moderate 137, could not score the winning run as its star batsman Irfan who was batting with purpose ran himself out in trying to steal the winning run for a well made 84 in 57 balls. Attieh bowlers remarkably defended this total due to fine bowling by Tariq (3-19) and Arshad (2-25). Thus the match turned out to be the first tie of Saudi Gazette Cup. Gentec after calling the coin correctly piled up 169 for 4 in 18 overs against BTC. Anwer Sr. made 54 in 32 balls whereas Anwer Jr. contributed 30 in 18 balls. Irfan got 2-33. BTC was bundled out for a mere 93 in 80 balls to lose the match by 77 runs as Abdul Wahab wrecked through the BTC lineup by claiming 4 for 15. Naved scalped 2-6. Omar defeated UCC by achieving the target of 154 set by UCC in the 18th over by losing 7 wickets but not after some scary moments in the middle when it lost 3 quick wickets. But captain Salim, who hit 40 in 19 balls along with A. Gafoor (32 in 18 balls), ensured his team's victory. Iqbal made 24 and Amir hit 22. Nizam took 2-17 and Mukhtar 2-20. Omar made the semifinals. Earlier UCC stroked 150 for 6 in the allotted 18 overs, thanks to a fine innings of 42 in 26 balls by Latif. Talha made 26 n.o. and captain Salim had 2-31. Muhtareef racked up 199 for 6 in 18 overs against ALJ as opener Fareed hit the opponent bowlers all over the ground to notch up 65 in 32 balls with 8 fours. Qaiser stroked 45 in 17 balls and Aftab hit 31 in 11 balls. Naveen of ALJ bowled magnificently despite the onslaught by the Mohtareef batsmen as he took 4 wickets for just 15 runs. ALJ chasing this mammoth total needed to get more than 11 runs per over. But it was restricted to 111, thus losing by 88 runs. Aftab took 2-25 and Ahsan got 2-22. Tanveer made 33 in 34 balls. In the last encounter of the Morning session, IDB defeated ATS by 5 wickets as ATS using the track first came up with 104 for 9 in 17 overs. Waseem made 24 and Yusuf Sharif hit 22. Ahmed took 3-16 and Muzammil scalped 2-36. IDB achieved 107 for 5 in 16 overs as Khwaja played a sedate innings of 42 in 41 balls. Nadeem took 2-22. Johnson Control was declared winners against Reel & Rom on walk over basis. __
