Emirates continue to fly high

Fly Emirates continued to fly high in the CSS Homeward Bound Sharjah Ramadan Cricket tournament.

On Wednesday night at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, Fly Emirates outplayed Muscat Cricket team by seven wickets through a brilliant exhibition of tight bowling and outstanding fielding.

Emirates bowled out Muscat for a paltry 113 and raced to victory through Javed Ismail's unbeaten 69 and Khuram Khan's unconquered 25.

Put in to bat by Fly Emirates, Muscat lost their first wicket to the fourth ball of the match. Javed Ismail bowled opener Hemin Desai for a duck.

One-down Rakesh Sharma lived dangerously, being beaten thrice in one over by Javed outside the off stump. However, it was Aurangazeb who ended Sharma's stay at the wicket by clean bowling him in the eighth over.

Opener Ajit Kolte and next man Ojas Mehta had to strive hard to pick runs against the tight Emirates bowling, backed by excellent fielding. The first 10 overs produced just 33 runs.

Meanwhile, left-arm spinner Khuram Khan, tightened the grip by bowling two successive maiden overs.

At the score on 34, Aurangazeb struck twice. Kolte, who went back to an Aurangazeb delivery, was clean bowled for 20. Three balls later he also dislodged the stumps Rohan Bane with a ball that kept low.

Aurangazeb completed his quota of overs with an analysis of 7-2-9-3.

Khuram, who teased the batsmen with his spin, had Hemal bowled for a duck and the cream of Muscat's batting were back in the pavilion for just 35 runs.

Jitendra Redhkar through a defiant 32 tried to swell the score but Arshad Ali got him out. Arshad went on to bag two quick wickets to hasten the end of the Muscat innings.

Muscat looked like gearing up for a fightback. Rohan Bane bowled Peter Rodrigues for four, while Hemin Desai trapped Arshad Ali (6) leg before.

One down Kamaran played cautiously to score 15 runs off 66 balls before being trapped leg before by Rohan.

This was the last success for Muscat bowlers. Khuram Khan and Javed Ismail took charge and virtually thrashed the Muscat attack to guide their team to victory in 25.2 overs.

In another match Belhasa Driving Centre raced past Safdari Club by eight wickets.

Safdari lost their opener Kashif Iqbal for 2, but opener Murtaza (20) and Asad Abbas (48) steadied the innings. After Mukhtar bowled Murtaza, Ali Reza (14) and Abbas put on 37 runs for the third wicket.

At this juncture, Salim Khan struck repeatedly. He picked the wickets of Abbas, Reza, Murtaza Ali (4) and Huzefa (2) within a span of six overs and Safdari were restricted to 139 for 9.
Belhasa Driving Centre openers went for their shots from the start.

Abdul Rehman reached his 50 in just 20 balls with five boundaries and three sixes before being bowled by Mufeez.

Mukhtar scored his 65 in just 63 balls. His knock too contained nine boundaries and two sixes. After Umar had Mukhtar caught behind, Irfan Darr (9n.o) and Saleem Khan (11n.o) put on a 22 run unbeaten partnership to ensure Safdari's victory in 11.1 overs.

Summarised scores

Muscat Cricket Team 113 in 34.4 overs (Jitendra Redkar 32, Javed 2 for 29, Aurangazeb 3 for 9, Arshad 3 for 21) lost to Fly Emirates 114 for 3 in 25 overs (Khuram Khan 25n.o, Javed Ismail 69n.o, Rohan 2 for 18) Man of the match: Javed Ismail

Safdari Cricket Club 139 for 9 in 30 overs (Murtaza Shabbir 20, Asad Abbas 48, Salim Khan 4 for 17) lost to Belhasa Driving Centre 142 for 2 in 11.1overs (Abdul Rehman 50, Mukhtar 63) Man of the match: Mukhtar