JEDDAH: Defending champion P&IP snatched an exciting 4 wickets win over Finance in the final to clinch the 14th Kanoo Inter-Division Cup for the 7th time. It was once again the team spirit and unity of P&IP which won it the title. Finance was put in to bat first by P&IP. Finance lost its openers cheaply but in came elegant batsman Thabrez and steadied the innings along with talented youngster Saadique Merchant. Both ran quick singles and Thabrez struck two solid fours through the covers but was dismissed thereafter for 18. Then Finance suffered its biggest blow losing skipper Sami in single digit. It was left to Saadique who played an excellent knock mostly scoring with ones and twos. He rotated strike with Qaiser (14 – 1 six). His valuable 56 included 2 fours and 2 sixes. Finance ended up at 134 all out in the last over of the innings. P&IP bowlers Vasi (3-26), Najaf, Matheen and Noor (2 each) and Fazalullah (1) were responsible to restrict their opponents. In response, P&IP began briskly as openers Razi 23 (3 fours) and skipper Matheen 66 (2 fours and 6 sixes) played cautiously initially before opening up. Matheen was the dominant partner garnering most of the strike before Sami got rid of Razi. Matheen meanwhile was on a roll and appeared to be taking the team home all by himself before he succumbed to Saadique Merchant who took 4-20 and ran through the middle order to scare the opponents. Suresh took a wicket. P&IP managed to achieve the target and win by 4 wickets with 3 overs to spare. Man of the Match: Matheen of P&IP. Freight claims third place Freight sealed the third place by defeating Commercial by 7 wickets. Commercial had no answer to the fast and furious attack of Freight bowlers. It put up a good fight initially as openers Rafi (17) and Raju (31) played sensibly. Then Nabil (14) and Riyaz (27) maintained the tempo before they were rocked by Freight bowlers Mushtaq (2-28) and a wicket each by Jayasuriya and Oliver. It was restricted to a paltry 117-7 in 12 overs. In reply, Freight batsmen Hameen 52 (5 fours and 1 six), Jayasuriya (10) and Fazal 27 n.o. (2 fours and 1 six) quickly finished the game in just 8.3 overs. It was a good fielding and team effort by Freight that enabled it to clinch the third opposition. Man of the Match: Hameen of Freight. After the match the prize distribution ceremony was held on the ground. Chief Guest Mohammed Iqbal (President of Jeddah Cricket Association), senior Kanoo management team comprising Osman Ali (Regional Coordination Manager), Fuad Al-Nazawi (Business Develo0pment Manager), Abdul Rafeeque of Freight, Nawaz Khan Swati of P&IP and Jayaram Shetty of Finance were present on the occasion. The proceedings started with recitation from the Holy Qur'an after which the coordinator A.A. Merchant thanked the Kanoo management for sponsoring the league for the benefit of its employees and all players, supporters and organizers. He gave a brief account of Kanoo Inter Division League history for the last 14 years during which P&IP has won it 7 times, Travel thrice and Finance and Group 2 twice each. Osman Ali, who was present for the 1st time on the ground to attend the final, appreciated the way in which all the staff and managers inter-mingled and played side by side. He thanked the players, organizers and the finalists and the other teams and assured all support to such activities in future also. JCA President Mohammed Iqbal thanked Kanoo for inviting him to be the chief guest and appreciated the Group's policy. Awards: Best batsman (on average) – Razi (P&IP), best batsman (on aggregate) – Fazal (Freight), best bowler (on average) – Sami Khan (Finance), best bowler (on aggregate) – Najaf (P&IP), best all-rounder (on average) – Matheen (P&IP), best all-rounder (on aggregate) – Jayasuriya (Freight), best wicketkeeper – Donald (Freight), maximum fielding catches – Nabil (Maersk Lions), fastest fifty – Matheen (P&IP). Service awards – Umpires: Kumar Krishnan, Dr. Syed Ziauddin, Mahmood Alam, Hariharan Manjeri, scorer – Muneeruddin, service – Syed Abdul Rashid, Waheed Khan of Freight for logistic handling, overall supervision
