Dr. Sayed Ziauddin JEDDAH – My Care Hala beat Asian Plastic Factory (APF) by six runs and Dopco Stars defeated AOT Al-Farooq by 126 runs to set up Hyundai Premier League final here recently. In the first semifinals of the tournament organized by the Western Province Cricket Association, Dopco Stars put on 383 for six wickets. Nadeem plundered the bowlers to rack up 121 (8x6 and 13x4) off 52 balls. Maqsood compiled 73 as the two added 153 for the second wicket. Asim then took over to smash 72 as Khurram remained unbeaten on 29. Shoaib Ali and Asad contributed 20 each. Zeeshan took 2-66, while a wicket each went to Qaiser, Imran, Nasir Iqbal and Qaim Khan. AOT Al-Farooq, in reply, lost its openers early. Pinch-hitter Qaiser Lateef top-scored with 61. He added 93 runs with Ilyas (29) for the third wicket. Abbas added 48 and Qaim Khan 27 as the team was bundled out for 257. Shoaib Ali was the pick of the bowlers. He grabbed 3-35, while a wicket each went to Khurram, Adnan, Mehboob, Asim and Nadeem. The match was supervized by Saleem and Zafar Mian. In the other semis, My Care Hala batted first against Asian Plastic Factory and piled up 262 in 35 overs. Zahid top-scored with 50, Babar Hussain hit 42, Hussain Bhatti 41, skipper Kashif 34 and Azeem remained unbeaten on 33. Adalat took 3-34 and Waqas Ausaf 3-57 as a wicket each went to Abdulqayyum and Zahid. My Care Hala, chasing 263 at around 7.5 runs per over, crashed for 255 with 12 balls remaining. Khurram Karamat was in devastating form and hammered 15 boundaries and six sixes to compile 108 off 47 balls. He added 90 runs with skipper Nadeem Amin (21). At that moment, APF required 114 runs off 133 balls with eight wickets in hand and it seemed a cake walk for them. But APF lineup crumbled to crash for 255. Farooq held an end with 38 and Maqsood made 30. Faheem was the wrecker-in-chief with 5-29, while Hussain Bhatti bagged 3-40 and Waheed took one. The match was supervised by Imran Asad and Arshad Chohan.
