Saleem Raza proves to be UNB's nemesis once again

Former Pakistani international Saleem Raza played another match-winning role, this time for Nissan Al Masaood against Union National Bank in the NMC Trophy cricket tournament played at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

Raza, who has also played for the UAE and still has quite a few records in his name, scored 41 runs and picked up two wickets to earn the man of match award, but more importantly he maintained a unique record not losing every time he has played against UNB, one of the top teams in the emirate.

Raza, who plays as a professional, has served quite a few teams and since last season he has been appearing for Nissan.

"I have always been on the winning side when playing against UNB," said Raza, whose 238 in one of the local tournaments still stands as the highest single score here. The former Pakistani players played four internationals for his country and while wearing the ECB cap was the only UAE player to win a match of match award in the World Cup against Holland in 1994. Prior to that he was the man of the tournament when he almost single-handedly steered ECB to the World Cup.

In Sunday's match, Nissan scored 227 for 8 in 50 overs and later restricted UNB to 136 in 33.3 overs.

Summarised scores

Nissan Al Masaood bt UNB by 91 runs in Abu Dhabi. Nissan Al Masaood 227 for 8 in 50 overs (Salim Raza 41, Nalin Pharanthu 37, Iftikhar Masi 32, Nadeem Butt 51; Ali Asad 2 for 19, Shahzad Khan 2 for 40) UNB 136 in 33.3 overs (Azhar Saeed 56; Surjith Singh 2 for 20, Nalin Pharanthu 2 for 10, Zahir Aslam 2 for 14, Salim Raza 2 for 25). Man of the match: Salim Raza.

CSC beat Insportz by eight wickets in Sharjah. Insportz 134 in 43 overs (Odiel Menon 30, Tausif Ahmed 32 n.o.; Rizwan Latif 3 for 29, Aqeel Latif 2 for 31) CSC 140 for 2 in 18 overs (Shashi Kanth 31, Asghar Ali 51 n.o., Syed Maqsood 36 n.o.). Man of the match: Asghar Ali

ACA bt Bin Jamal Cars by seven wickets in Al Ain. Bin Jamal Cars 160 in 38 overs. Akbar Rana 51, Munir-Uddin 26, Shoukat Ali 28 n.o., Imran Hussain 4 for 26) ACA 162 for 3 in 22 overs (Zafarullah Khan 32, Imran Hussain 60 n.o.). Man of the match: Imran Hussain