Abu Dhabi: Chatura Deshapriya scored 69 and then grabbed three wickets to steer Al Fahim to a six-run win over Perth Salt Valley to secure a spot in the last four of the ADCC President's Cup division-two cricket tournament.
Opening the innings after his side were put in to bat first, Deshapriya held the inning together with a 52-run partnership for the second wicket with his Sri Lankan teammate Linkan Alexander, the second top scorer with 34.
Deshapriya was in dashing form, hitting five sixes and three fours. He was run out, the first of four batsmen to get out in that fashion according to an ADCC press release.
Defending a score of 162, Deshapriya then made a useful contribution with the ball. He did the early damage by claiming three of the first four wickets to fall to return with three for nine from three overs.
Joining them in the semi-finals is Thrifty Car Rental, who defeated Abu Dhabi Airport Technology by 42 runs.
In a pre-quarter final match, Ahmed Raza, the UAE international, took four for 13 from his five overs to lead United Bank Limited to a nine-wicket win over Darwish Bin Ahmad.
Having skittled out Darwish Bin Ahmad for 99, UBL knocked off the winning runs in fewer than 10 overs.
Brief scores: Al Fahim: 162 all out in 23 overs (Chatura Deshapriya 69, Linkan Alexander 34, Ghafoor Butt 3-38) bt Perth Salt Valley 156 for 9 in 23 overs (Rizwan Amanat 34, Chatura Deshapriya 3-9, Dilan George 2-21).
Thrifty Car Rental: 239 for 9 in 25 overs (Nawaz Syed 48, Rizwan Butt 41, Rehman Gil 34, Mohammad Javed 3-40) bt Abu Dhabi Airport Technology 197 all out in 24 overs (Mudasser Ejaz 37, Mohammad Siraj 3-31).
Darwish Bin Ahmad: 99 all out in 16.5 overs (Tousif Shah 31, Ahmad Raza 4-13, Amjad Ali 2-4) lost to United Bank Limited: 102 for 2 in 9.3 overs (Ahsan Shah 44 not out).
