JEDDAH: Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) underlined its supremacy in the SCC T20 National Championship thrashing the Southern Province Cricket Association (SPCA) by 141 runs in the final to emerge champion. The championship was sponsored and organized by Saudi Cricket Center (SCC) and was played at WPCA Eskan Grounds Jeddah. Representatives from all four participating associations, high ranking officials from SCC and a good crowd attended the final. SPCA won the toss and surprisingly invited WPCA to use the track first, banking on its early breakthrough in the previous match. But the batsmen had other ideas. Right from the first ball they scored runs at will maintaining a run rate of more than 10 per over. At the score of 91, skipper Shafeeq was dismissed for 16 but Kashif Shafiq, who plundered SPCA bowlers all over the ground, had notched up his consecutive fifty off 28 balls. He departed for a well-made 67 off 37 balls. Amir Sajjad, who added 84 runs for the second wicket with Kashif, continued the run spree along Shoaib Ali who produced magnificent strokes to get to his fifty in just 19 balls. He left at 51, his second half-century too. Shoaib Ali continued his stroke play to reach 62 off 25 balls along with Faiq Ali who made 29 in 14 balls to post a mammoth total of 245-5. Faisal took 2-46 and Samar 2-51. SPCA struggled to show the form that swept it to the final. Responding to an asking run rate of 12.3 runs per over both the openers stroked the ball at will. But once Faisal returned back for 16 and Maqsood for 30 in 16 balls. It was total domination by WPCA bowlers and fielders who bundled out SPCA for 104 in 16.1 overs. Ibrar chipped in with 20. Abu Huraira grabbed 2-24 and Zaheer scalped 3-33. Man of the Final Shoaib had 3-15 and Hussain Bhatti 2-15 to complete the demolition of SPCA. In the match played for third and fourth positions, Madina Cricket League (MCL) defeated Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah Cricket Association (YACA) by 40 runs after losing three matches on a trot. MCL, batting first, piled up 208and YACA responded with 168. Ijaz scored 45, Omer 65 and Sadiq 63 while Ijaz, Sadiq, Touseef and Asif grabbed 2 wickets each for MCL. Kamran 31, Afzal 25, Ejaz 24 and Zaman 22 were the run getters for YACA. Nadeem Saad took 4-41. Earlier, a reception dinner was organized by SCC to honor the participating teams, mediamen, officials and community leaders. Nadeem Nadwi, Chief Executive of SCC announced that a Saudi national team, selected from this tournament, would be participating in the ACC challenge Cup in Thailand in the first week of December. Murali Dasan and Arshad Mughal officiated the match as umpires while Nadim Shabbir was the match referee. Thakur Singh did the scoring. Awards: Best batsman – Kashif Shafiq (196 runs), best bowler – Hussain Bhatti (13 wickets with a hat trick), Man of the Tournament – Shoaib Ali (92 runs and 7 wickets); century – Syed Faisal. Scores in brief: WPCA vs SPCA: WPCA won by 7 wickets. SPCA 127 (Nasir 37, Samir 30, Fahim 3-15, Hussain 3-17 ). WPCA131-3 (Kashif Shafiq 54, Amir Sajjad 51). WPCA vs MCL: WPCA won by 41 runs. WPCA 192-7 (Shafiq 69, Faiq 42, Ejaz 2-19). MCL 151 (Khalid 39, Ramzan 25, Abu Hurera 3-22). WPCA vs YACA: WPCA won by 55 runs. WPCA 229-6. (Kashif Shafiq 69, Amir Sajjad 67, Nadee Saad 2-42). YACA 174 (Kamran 73, Shabir 38, Hussain Bhatti 5-32 wit a hat trick, Faiq 2-0). YACA vs MCL: YACA won by 15 runs. YACA 175-6 (Afzal 50, Shabir 36, Kamran 34, Khalid 3-24). MCL 160 (Sajid 36, Sadiq 32, Khuram 3-40, Liaqat 2-25). YACA vs SPCA: SPCA won by 5 wickets. YACA132 (Iftikhar 28, Liaqat 26, Irshad 3-15, Raja Naveed 3-16). SPCA136-5 (Rashid 47, Maqsood 24, Liaqat 2-17). SPCA vs MCL: SPCA won by 22 runs. SPCA197-7 (Faisal 110, Saleem Butt 21, Akram 4-33). MCL175 (Sajid 60, Ejaz 25, Saleem Butt 3
