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Exciting fares at NMC Trophy
BY : SYED WASEEM AFZAL.
NMC Trophy witnessed some exciting matches with UNB revenging their last year's
defeat for the title clash with NMC. Elsewhere, Emirates Airline and Expats triumphed
on the opening day's action of the NMC Trophy organized by Abu Dhabi Cricket Council.
UNB scamper past NMC in a thriller
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MOHD AFZAL |
Defending Champions New Medical Centre (NMC) began their campaign on a faulty note when they
were beaten by Union National Bank (UNB) by a narrow margin of one wicket with two balls
to spare.
UNB, aided by Shahzad Afzal's impressive all round performance (4/60 and 25 runs)
and Mohammed Afzal's unbeaten knock of 60 of 70 balls defeated NMC in a cliffhanger.
Batting first, NMC piled up 288 runs in 46 overs with Yogesh Mistry top scoring with 74 off 39
balls with 6 sixes and 4 fours. Saqib Ali (43), Vijay Mehra (29) P.Rajinder (25) were
the other run getters.
Dangerous, Saqib Ali holed on to Shahzad Afzal off the bowling of Nasir for
43. Shahzad Afzal then accounted for Vijay Mehra, Javed, Rajinder and Amith to
finish with impressive figures of 4 for 60. NMC helped by a last wicket stand of 51
set a challenging total of 288.
Chasing a daunting target, UNB lost Nasir Siddiqui early on but a brilliant 104-run
second wicket partnership between Tahseen Zaidi (54) and Nadeem Ahmed (74) laid the
platform for the UNB chase. But due to the fall of three quick wickets, NMC bounced back
right into the game. However, man of the match, Mohammed Afzal unbeaten on 60 played sensibly
to steer his side to victory with two balls to spare. Apart from Mohammed Afzal's
knock, Tahseen Zaidi (54), Nadeem Ahmed (74), Shahzad Afzal (25) and Taskeen Siddiqui (43)
contributed in UNB's chase. Amith was the most successful bowler for NMC with 3 wickets
for 51 runs.
Click here for brief Scorecard.
Magnificent Five for Desai as Emirates win
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SANDESH DESAI |
Desai's devastating five-wicket haul helped Emirates to clinch a comfortable
five-wicket victory over Al Kabeer.
Electing to bat first, Al Kabeer got off to a good start with openers Ahsan Tufail (74)
and Suhail Butt (22) adding 58 runs. One drop Kamran Durrani also kept with the pace and
hit 43. However, the introduction of Sandhesh Desai put the brakes on scoring and thereafter the
wickets kept crumbling. Al Kabeer's main stay was Ashan Tufail (73) and then in the middle order
Faiyaz who scored 33 runs before falling to Peter. Desai returned with a rich and rare haul of
5 for 28 from 8 overs. Peter Rodrigues was the other bowler to impress with 2 wickets.
Set to chase 224, Emirates overhauled the target with 5 wickets in hand.
Gaurav Arora (77), Peter (33), Khurram's unbeaten 41 and Fahad Usman's unbeaten 35
helped Emirates achieve the target with over 11 overs to spare.
Gaurav Arora top scored with 77 off 50 balls contained 12 fours and a lone six.
For Al Kabeer Raheel Khan and Suhail Butt finished with two wickets each.
Click here for brief Scorecard.
Big boys beat ECCC
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ARSHAD ALI |
In another match, Expats C.C clinched a convincing 99-run win over debutante ECCC
despite Tauseef Ahmed's ton.
Superb knocks from Arshad Ali (121), Syed Atif (75) and Jairaj Thakur (71) did the
trick for Expats as they steam-rolled their way past the 300 mark.
Opener Arshad Ali smashed a brilliant 121 off 129 deliveries with 10 fours and 2 sixes
while his opening partner, Atif missed out his century as he fell to Asif for 75.
Jairaj coming in next continued the onslaught and blazed his way to run a ball 71.
Expats compiled a massive 321 from their alloted 50 overs.
Chasing a massive target, ECCC were reduced to 23 for 3.
But Ex-Pakistan Test player Tauseef Ahmed played a lone battle scoring
an entertaining unbeaten 122 off 119 deliveries. Wasim (23) and Asif (22*)
were the other significant scorers. Tauseef's solitary effort was not enough as ECCC
fell short off the target by 99 runs. Century maker, Arshad Ali picked up 3 wickets for
36 runs while Sharfuddin took 2.
Click here for brief Scorecard.
Sunday, November 05, 2000.
source : UAEcricket.com.
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