Bahrain back to winning ways

Manama : Bahrain got back to winning ways after they defeated Qatar by 52 runs in its third match and the fourth round of round-robin matches yesterday in the International Cricket Council (ICC) 2017 World Cricket League (WCL) Asia Region Division One in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Batting first, the national team managed 233 for seven in its 50 overs, which saw the team slump at the start to 62 for five in 21.1 over following the cheap dismissals of openers Imran Ali Butt (14) and Janaka Chaturanga (6), followed by Mohammed Sameer (17), Junaid Aziz (0) and the skipper Azeem Ul Haq (9).

Bahrain’s fortune changed when Gamini Arachchige (47 off 85 deliveries, 5x4) and man of the match Tahir Dar (79 off 88, 9x4, 2x6) and put on 127 for the sixth wicket.

Late in the innings Jabbar Amjad (11 off 10, 2x4) and Mohammed Rafeh (28 off 11, 1x4, 3x6) added a valuable 42 unbeaten runs for the eighth wicket.

Qatar’s best bowlers were Abbas Malak (three for 34) in nine overs, Mohammed Nadeem (three for 34) in 10 and Nouman Sarwar (one for 17).

In reply, Qatar were dismissed for 181 in 38.4 overs with the main scorers being opener Mohammed Tanveer (53 off 52, 7x4, 1x6) and mid-order batsmen Tamoor Sajjad (36 off 47, 2x4) and Zaheer Ibrahim (20 off 32, 2x4).

Bahrain’s bowlers picking up wickets were Tahir Dar (three for 29) in nine overs, Junaid Aziz (three for 57) in 10, along with Azeem Ul Haq (one for 13) in 2, Jabbar Amjad (one for 21) in 3.4 and Babar Ali (one for 33) in 10.

Bahrain prepared for this championship with five friendly matches in Sri Lanka, winning three and losing two, getting acclimatised and getting used to turf wickets.

Other scores: 

1)Saudi Arabia 131/4 in 26.3 overs (Shahbaz Rasheed 27, Abdul Waheed 23; Haroon Shahid 2/25, Imran Ali 2/30) bt Kuwait 130 all out in 43.2 overs (Imran Ali 31, Ali Zaheer 30; Mohammed Afzal 4/22, Imran Arif 3/21 by 4 wickets.  Man of the Match: M Afzal. 

2)Thailand 58/3 in 13.5 overs (Daniel Jacob 22no, Weerachai Maneerat 12; Ge Yong Sheng 1/7, Zhang Yufei 1/9, Wang Qui 1/17) bt China 55 all out in 20.1 overs (Zhong Yu Fei 11, Zhang Peng 10; Nopphon Senamontree 4/13, Kamron Kamron Senamontree 2/14) by 7 wickets. Man of the Match: N Senamontree.

Standings (after four rounds): (played-won-lost-points): 

1)Saudi Arabia (3-3-0-6), 

2)Qatar (4-3-1-6), 

3)Bahrain (3-2-1-4), 

4)Thailand (4-2-2-4),

5)Kuwait (3-1-2-2), 

6)Bhutan (4-1-3-2), 

7)China (4-0-4-0).

Today’s schedule: Rest Day: 

Tomorrow: 

1)Saudi Arabia vs Bhutan, 

2)Qatar vs China, 

3)Bahrain vs Kuwait.