JEDDAH: The first week of action in the Western Province cricket Association Premiere League saw Zultec beat Usman Gems by 125 runs while My care Hala scored an eight wicket win over Mehmood Saeed here last week. Six teams are competing in the 40-over-a-side tournament, managed and sponsored by WPCA and being played at WPCA Eskan Grounds. The first match saw Mehmood Saeed, which opted to bat first, being bowled out for 251 runs in 36.2 overs. Mehmood Saeed lost wickets at regular intervals with only Salman (36) and Niyaz (59) trying to build the innings with Farooq (65). Aqeel added 28 runs. Abdul Qayum, bowled accurately, for his four wickets at a cost of 55 runs. Shahbaz took 2-45. My Care openers Kashif and Khurram were in devastating form. They both plundered Mehmood Saeed bowlers at will and went on to score centuries. Kashif scored his hundred off just 40 balls, while Khurram remained unbeaten on 109 off 43 deliveries to put on 199 for the first wicket in just 13.5 overs. My care Hala achieved the target of 253 for the loss of two wickets off just 115 balls with more than 20 overs in hand. In the other match Zultec decided to bat first against the newly-reformed Usman Gems. It started cautiously with both openers Wajahat (23) and Anis Malik (80) putting on good scores. Nadeem Butt then added 58 and Abdullah Essa 38. The Zultec total got a push in the last stages when Arif Jutt plundered 69 off 44 balls to lift the team total to 355-9 in the allotted 40 overs. Shahnawaz picked up four wickets for 58 runs. Usman Gems in reply lost Amir Sajjad early but then Aftab Khan hit a quick-fire 57. Yunus Khan, Bryce and Raymond Garnette, who took time to adjust to the conditions, added 34, 32 and 30 runs respectively. With the required run-rate creeping up fast Usman Gems lost its cool and was sent back to the pavilion for 230 runs in 32.5 overs. It was Wajahat and Hussain Bhatti who restricted the Gems with figures of 4-50 and 3-44 respectively. Khalid had figures of 2
