Oman's Raha tame Lanka Lions

Oman's Raha Cricket Club demonstrated their strength in the CSS Homeward Bound Sharjah Ramadan Cricket tournament with an impressive six-wicket win over Lanka Lions at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.

Raha first exhibited their bowling strength through pacer Hyder Ali and spinners Tariq Hussain and Khalid Rashid. Lanka Lions struggled to get off to a good start with Mohammed Farhan and Ali bowling at a good pace. Manik De Silva (4) was the first to go, trapped leg before by Ali. Left-handed Sudarsha Perera (4) pulled a short delivery from Ali into the hands of Ahmed at mid-wicket, while Bongso Tuan (6) edged an away swinger from Farhan into the gloves of wicketkeeper Sultan Ahmed.

In walked UAE team player Shane Fernando, but he lasted just 10 balls, bowled off the first ball from left-arm spinner Tariq for one. Next man Indika too became another Tariq victim.

Five down for 30 in the 15th over, Lanka Lions struggled for survival. Nadeeka made an effort to settle down but at the score on 43, he flicked Aslam straight into the hands of Ali at deep fine leg.

Jehan Jaymon and Janaka Bandara, kept the scoreboard moving, putting on 46 runs for the seventh wicket, before Raha skipper Khalid Rashid introduced himself and wiped off the tail with his off spin to bowl out Lanka Lions for a paltry 103.

Raha began the chase badly with left-arm pacer Roshanta Peris trapping Mohammed Asif (7) leg before. Opener Adnan Ahmed (8) was run out. Meanwhile, Priyantha won a leg before decision against Sultan Ahmed (2). However, Azhar Ali (46 n.o.) destroyed all hopes for the Lions by settling down to some lovely shots to steer Raha to victory.

In another match, Smart Chinese Cricket Club registered a 35-run victory over Awan Club.

Electing to bat, Smart Club were given a good start by their openers Naveed (38) and Ali Arshad (50) who put on 94 runs.

Mohsin struck twice to oust Naveed and Arshad just before the 15th over. One-down Afzal hit a defiant 29, before Shahzad struck thrice in one over to wreck the middle order and restrict Smart to 180 for 8.

Awan chased badly with wickets falling repeatedly. Except for Nauman (30) and Shazad (27) none attempted to settle down and were bowled out for 145 runs.

Summarised scores:

Lanka Lions 103 in 32.3 overs (Jaymon 29, J. Bandara 27, Hyder Ali 2/20, Tariq 2/21, Khalid Rashid 3/14) lost to Raha Club 104/4 104/4 in 31 overs (Azhar Ali 46)
Man of the Match: Azhar Ali.

Smart Club 180/8 in 30 overs (Naveed 38, Ali Arshad 50, Afzal 29, Mohsin 2/33, Shahzad 4/14) bt Awan Club 145 in 27.2 overs (Shahzad 27, Nauman 30, Ali Arshad 2/25, M. Qadeer 2/9, Afzal 2/11) Man of the Match: Ali Arshad.