JEDDAH: AOT Sonex thrashed Zultec by seven wickets to become the first team to reach the semifinals on the 40-Over Prince Faisal Premier Cup being organized by Western Province Cricket Association here last week. In the Afternoon Cup Safa Al-Bawadi defeated Usman Gems Warriors; Elaf had the last laugh against Alpha Srilankans; My Care Srilankans United went down fighting against Nestle Milo; and Crown Blue tasted defeat at the hands of United Cricket Club. Usman Gems Blue, Fuchs Hamrani, Johnson and Otex emerged winners in the Morning Tournament. In the Premier Division Zultec took the strike against AOT and was bundled out for 219 in the 38th over. Gazzafi was the only batsman to bat with some authority to get to 69. None other could cross the double-digit mark. Faiq Habeeb bowled devastatingly to grab five wickets for 30 runs, while Left-arm pacer Qaiser grabbed 2-14 for AOT. AOT Sonex plundered the Zultec bowlers all over the ground to get to the winning target of 220 in a mere 24.3 overs with Faisal smashing 71 and his partner Ilyas compiling 63. They put on 120 runs in just 9 overs. Imtiyaz remained unbeaten on 52. Khalid Iqbal took 2-45 and Ajmal one for Zultec. In the Afternoon Cup, United Cricket Club beat Crown Blue by 61 runs. Batting first UCC racked up 209-3 in 20 overs with Irfan scoring 60 and Aamir Shahzad hitting 79. Shahnawaz was unlucky to have been bowled first ball. Junaid returned unbeaten on 42 as Anwar took 2-23. Crown Blue was bowled out for 148. Danish made 35, Anwar 31 and Rashad 29. Nasir scalped 3-11, while Shahnawaz grabbed 3-30. In another encounter Elaf Engineering beat Alpha Srilankan by 16 runs. Elaf piled up 187-8 with teenager Usman scoring an unbeaten 88 and Irfan making 27. S. Fraz took 2-30 and Mazhar picked up 2-34. Alpha was bowled out for 171. Prakashan hit a brilliant 70 but there was none to support him. Shahnawaz had the figures of 4-33, Irfan 3-34 and Hussain 2-34 for Elaf. Another encounter saw Safa Al-Bawadi down Usman Gems Warriors by 43 runs. Batting first Safa Al-Bawadi put on 167-7 in the allotted 18 overs with Tahir making 44. Amjad grabbed 2-46. The Warriors in reply crumbled to 124 with Shujah making 30. Naseer took 3-20 and Shakeel 3-25 for Safa. In the last encounter of the Afternoon event Nestle Milo beat My Care Srilankans United by 14 runs. Nestle scored 209-5 in 20 overs as Asim hit 82 and Abdullah Zahid made 79 and Hassan 30. Sarfaraz took 3-31 and Ramzan got 2-37. My Care SL United accepted the challenge but fell short by 14 runs with Rumaish smashing 47, Shammy adding 40 to get to 195-5. Abdullah Zahid took 2-37 for Nestle. In the Morning Cup, Usman Gems Blue beat ATS by four wickets. ATS taking the strike first was bundled out for 124. Ayaz Jafri was the top-scorer for ATS with 35. Nauman and Kashif took three wickets each for 9 and 18 runs, respectively. Blue Gems was home (126-6) in 93 balls. Syed Ashraf scored 39 while Zahid remained not out on 23. Vinay had 3-21 and Nadeem 2-24. Attieh Steel lost to Fuchs Hamrani by 17 runs. Hamrani was bundled out for 171, but Attieh could muster only 154 runs. Johnson beat Crown White by two wickets. Crown White put on 122-6 with Adnan making 39 and Sami taking 2-37. Johnson chased down the target for the loss of eight wickets with Wasiti scoring 28 and Rana 25. Kamran took 3-21 and Iftikhar 2
