Ibsons emerge supreme in Ramadan Cup

Dubai: Ibsons Cricket Club emerged supreme in the second Interface Ramadan Cup cricket tournament, beating Phoenix Medicines by 39 runs in the final organised by the Dubai Cricket Council and held at the International Cricket Council Global Academy ground.

It was their second Ramadan Cup title following their victory in the Ajman Cricket Council competition.

Baber Malek, who has played many match-winning knocks for Ibsons, set the tempo by cracking a brilliant 65 runs off 42 balls with four boundaries and five sixers. Ibsons went on to post a challenging 183 for 5 in 20 overs and restricted Phoenix to 144 runs through a deadly four- wicket spell from UAE’s left-arm spinner Fayyaz Ahmad.

Speaking to Gulf News after top scoring for Ibsons, Malek said: “I am delighted at having played another knock which helped my team post a good total. I came out to bat at No 1 and towards the end I felt a bit tired due to the heat. Hence I retired and I feel that was a good decision. It enabled a fresh Pervaiz Nazir to accelerate our run rate. He hit 41 runs off just 13 balls with five sixers and two boundaries and it proved to be very decisive in the end result. Nazir rightly deserved the man of the match award.”|

For Ibsons it was a special victory. They avenged their defeat to Phoenix in the Abu Dhabi Ramadan Cup final. “It is a great season for us. We reached the final of three Ramadan Cup tournaments. In Ajman and Dubai we have emerged the champions and in Abu Dhabi we finished runners up as we lost to Phoenix. We were keen to win it here and we are proud we have done it. It was nothing but brilliant team work under the guidance of our captain Kamal Hussain and it is great to be part of such a team,” added Malek.

Ibsons Mohammad Shafiq too chipped in with 31 runs off 33 balls to provide Ibsons a good total. Mohammad Awaz and Fawad Malek took two wickets each for Phoenix.

Chasing Ibson’s total, Phoenix’s Saqlain Haider top scored with 45 runs off 31 balls but Ibsons’ bowlers bowled a tight length. Fayyaz Ahmad’s four-wicket spell for 25 runs from four overs was well supported by Kamran Shehzad, Zohaib Akthar and Irfan Sajid with two wickets each. Though Phoenix Fahad Ansari (31) and Safullah (29) tried to pull their team closer to the target, they were all out in 18.1 overs.