Ace Travels opened its account in the Kanoo Premier Cup with a scintillating 79-run victory thanks to Wahaj for his 145-run innings here last week. In other encounters Kanoo Cricket Club beat Jawar Al Jazira by 44 runs, while Kanoo Travel Cricketers beat Zinda Tilismat of Hyderabad by 16 runs. This Premier Division event is sponsored by the Kanoo Group of Companies and organized by the Jeddah Cricket Association. Ace Travels electing to bat first piled up a huge total of 250-2 in its 18 overs, and then restricted JPCC to 171-6 to record a win. Openers Wajid Samdani (38 runs) and Wahaj (145 not out) gave Ace an excellent launchpad. Wahaj hit a dozen sixes and 13 boundaries in his knock. Ayaz also added a quick-fire 44. Kaleem and Jawwad took a wicket each for JPCC. In reply JPCC slumped to 171-6 in 18 overs. Ismail made 59 runs, Hafeez 46, Jawwad 17. Wahaj also took 2-14, while Kamran, Faheem and Saeed bagged a wicket each for Kanoo. The second match saw Kanoo Cricket Club put on 197-2 in 17 overs and then restrict Jawar Al Jazira to 153-8 for a 44-run win. Kanoo openers Rashid and Tabrez made 80 and 72 not out, while Sami Khan contributed 16 runs. Shaan and Ramzan took one wicket each for Jawar Al Jazira. In reply Shaan contributed 31, while Zulfiqar and Irfan scored 19 each for Jawar Al Jazira. Majid took 4-35, while Kamran bagged 1-25 for Kanoo Cricket Club. In another encounter Kanoo Travel, batting first, scored 205-8 in 18 overs before tying down Zinda Tilismat of Hyderabad 189-9 to register its 16-run win. Kanoo Travel opener Kaleem went cheaply for 7 runs, but Adnan added 65, Mazhar 31, Ibrahim 23, Amir 18 and Parvez 15. Nadeem scalped 4-32 while Abdullah, Sajjad, Irfan and Sarfaraz bagged a wicket each for Zinda Tilismat. Openers Javed (46) and Irfan (32) gave Zinda Tilismat a promising start, but the batsmen who followed could not maintain the run-rate although Sarfaraz added 32, Sajjad 19 and Mateen 13 not out, before exhausting their overs at 189-9. Imran took 4-36, Akbar 3-38, Majid 1-35 and Amir 1-44 for Kanoo Travel.
