Doha: Al Feroz Youngsters defeated Doha Cricket Club (DCC) by 36 runs in the first round of the Qatar Airways Division ‘A’ 50-overs Cricket League, organised by Qatar Cricket Association (QCA) at West Bay recently.
Electing to bat, the winners were sustained by a fortuitous innings of 89 by Imran Ashraf, dropped thrice by butter-fingered DCC fielders, to post a competitive total of 256 for 8 from the precarious position of 91 for five in the 23rd over.
Sri Lanka left-arm seamer Damith, making his debut for DCC, dismissed the top four Al Feroz batsmen while fast bowler Talha Shah trapped the dangerous Qalandar in front of the wickets with one that swung in.
Noor, who conceded 10 runs in the first over of the match, bowling from the Lusail Railway end, was immediately replaced by skipper Fawwad Ahmed with Damith.
Opener Faisal welcomed him with two consecutive fours. However, the tall Sri Lankan avenged the slight when Faisal flicked him straight into the hands of Noor at deep square leg on the third ball.
Damith then removed the in-form Boota for just 23 when the Al Feroz total was 75.
Boota failed to cash in on the simple catch he had offered to Marso at backward point when he was on seven off the luckless Noor who ultimately returned with the fine figures of 10-0-33-0.
Damith then got rid of Inam and Mujeed, nicely caught by wicket-keeper Shahed Hussain, to reduce Al Feroz to 91 for five.
Imran Ashraf then took charge, riding his luck with three dropped catches.
Khalid dropped the first of his two ‘lollipop’ catches when he floored Ashraf’s simple offering off Damit.
DCC paid dearly for that blunder as Ashraf had just scored six runs. He went on to score 83 runs more till he was run out by Sarmad in the 47th over.
He added 82 runs for the eighth wicket with Zahid Khan whose unbeaten 26 was liberally punctuated with cross-batted heaves.
Chasing an achievable target, DCC were in repair mode early into their innings after opener Khalid Khatib was dismissed for zero to follow his forgettable effort of two overs for 17 runs.
Debutant Marso, who waged a lone battle with a stroke-filled innings of 98, salvaged some pride for the losers.
In the other match of the day, centurion Khurram (128) led the mayhem for Asia Cricket Club (ACC) against the hapless Bangladesh outfit who conceded 326 off their 50 overs.
Qamar Sadiq and Awais joined the party by posting half centuries.
In reply the ACC bowlers routed Bangladesh for a paltry 69 to register an embarrassingly one-sided victory by the huge margin of 257 runs. QNA
