Quaid e Azam Premier Cricket League Cricket League, Asian cricket, Sunday Cricket League, Best Asian cricket league
With over half a dozen new clubs expressing an interest to join The Quaid e Azam Premier Cricket League the league has now opened the application process for new clubs to join the league for season 2021.
As the fastest growing South Asian Sunday cricket league in the country the interest in the league since starting the short season has been overwhelming. The reputation for its high standard of cricket played in the league since the start of the season in July 2020 has attracted over 180 new player signings in just 8 weeks, averaging 23 new signing each week. With the committee’s decision to play competition cricket in season 2020 the momentum for the promotion and championship titles has been tightly fought particularly with the introduction of the new points system.
With 7 clubs chasing the championship title last week some of the results today have now put Bhalot, Kashmir and Whiterose in realistic chance of the title as they don’t play each other, so its critical for them not to drop any points. Bhalot have the upper hand with a 10 point lead but a slip up could cost them the chance of the title as the beat Diamond by 51 runs, Bhalot batted first and set a target of 159 for 7 with a fine innings from Yasir Ali (67) but the home side Diamond struggled to chase the target and were all bowled out for 108 with in form bowling for Omar Yaqoob (5 for 9 runs) doing most of the damage.
AK Eagles have maintained the lead in the table but losing to Kashmir by just 7 runs was a blow to their chance at the title, Kashmir batted first and scored 181 for 9 with contribution with the bat from Abdul Wahid (40) and Faisal Javed (54 not out) in return AK Eagles were restricted to 174 for 7 in thier 35 overs, in form batsman Waleed Ajnum (46) and Umar Abbas (42) fought back for their club but fell short of the target.
Darulshafa beat Central Leeds by 10 wickets increasing their hope to avoid relegation, Central Leeds were restricted to 100 before being bowled out and Darulshafa chased the score without loosing a single wicket to bag maximum points, and unbeaten 52 from Azhar Mahmood gave hope to the club to stay in the Premier Section.
Flix also increased their chance to avoid relegation as they beat Bradford Moor at Tong Park, Flix batted first and set a target of 180. The target was difficult for Bradford Moor to chase as they fell just 19 runs short. Arjun Rankumar (55) was the only batsman to put in a reasonable contribution for Bradford Moor. With just two more fixtures Flix need to win both games to prevent being relegated. Both Darulshafa and Flix play Karmand in the final two fixtures and if Karmand loose both matches they could find themselves in trouble if they don’t gain maximum batting or bowling points.
Whiterose had a very comfortable win over Karmand Jinnah Arena, Whiterose elected to bat first and scored 196 for 9 with contribution from Chris Holliday (44). Amir Ayub was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 – 43. Whiterose bowled Karmand out for just 94 runs.
In the Star Section the match between Heaton Park and Punjab was the decider between first and second place, the match had many twist during both innings. Heaton Park were struggling at 120 for 6 but managed to set a target of 165 for 9. Punjab were 80 for 5 at the 21st overs and manged to take the game to the final over needing 2 runs of the last ball of the over but could only manage a single with tied the game. Heaton Park topped the Star Section table by 1 point above Subhan.
Mylahore Seniors went all season without a win but finished the season in style by beating Mylahore Tabs A by 10 wickets, contribution with the bat from Khalid Mehmood (70 not out) and Waseem Muhammad (55 not out) helped their club to secure their first win of the season chasing Mylahore Tab A target of 140, helped by Zulfiqar Muhammad (70).
Rising Star chasing second place beat Mylahore Tabs B in the hope Kings XI Lahore would lose today for them to take 2nd place, Rising Star were bowled out cheaply for 91, Abdul Ijaz was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 4 for 26. Mylahore Tabs B were bowled out for 46 runs.
Northcliffe almost disappointed Khan as the match went to the final over of the game, an outstanding unbeaten performance from Mahir Ali (90 not out) maintain a 100% winning record for the club who now go into the play offs as the mostly likely to be promoted, can the club maintain their unbeaten run during the plays offs. Northcliffe we restricted to 141 by the outstanding bowling of Mohammed Uzair (5 – 28)
Yorkshire Lions and Indus Bradford scored the highest combined total of today, Yorkshire lions batted first and set a target of 261 for 7 with performances from Rashid Mehmood (50), Javad Ahmed (50) and Parth Naik (49). Indus Bradford were all bowled out for 187 with inform Hazrat Zaman scorer 43.
The two Kings XI teams played today with Kings XI Lahore hoping to secure second place to qualify for the play offs. Kings XI Lahore dominated the match first with the ball as they bowled Kings XI out for 112 with Saqlain Shah taking 5 for 23 and then with the bat as they chased the total with the loss of just 2 wickets.
