KUWAIT BANKS CLUB LEAGUE LAUNCHED IN GREAT STYLE
KUWAIT CRICKET PLEDGES ITS SUPPORT TO BANK TEAMS
AHLI UNITED BANK, NATIONAL BANK OF KUWAIT & BOUBYAN BANK WIN FIRST ROUND MATCHES
The 2015-16 Kuwait Banks Club league cricket tournament was launched in a great style at Kuwait Cricket’s new look Sulaibiya cricket ground on Saturday, November 14, 2015. The 9 team tournament designed for bank teams affiliated to Kuwait Banks Club is organized by Kuwait Cricket, the official body of controlling cricket in Kuwait.
Kuwait Cricket has always been since its inception aiming to promote & improve local cricket by conducting cricket tournaments for all inhabitants of Kuwait without any prejudice and as a result this year too the Sulaibiya ground has been designed wonderfully well with newly prepared blocks and lush green outfield so as to promote the development of playing facilities. Highly powerful lights are installed to facilitate the games in the night with well-equipped dug outs and wash room facilities. Kuwait Cricket has actively been striving towards a situation where resources for the playing of cricket are accessible to all persons desirous of playing cricket on an equal basis. One of the salient features of this year is the online scoring system introduced in the banking league as all the players can monitor the progress of the game online and view the individual performance & other related details precisely.
Mr. Richard Grooves, CEO of Ahli United Bank, the Chief Guest officially launched the KBC league trophy by cutting a cake during the inauguration ceremony which was attended by Mr. Mahmoud Bastaki, Vice Chairman, Kuwait Banks Club, Mr. Asad Baig, Director General, Kuwait Cricket & Mr. Murali Kutticode, Director, Junior & Corporate cricket and Mr. Hussein Ali of KBC. Mr. Richard Grooves was highly impressed by the infrastructure of the ground and praised Kuwait Cricket for its untiring effort in developing and promoting cricket in Kuwait and wished all the bank teams the very best and an enjoyable cricket season.
Murali Kutticode, Director of Junior & Corporate cricket welcomed the Chief Guest and participating bank teams and assured Kuwait Cricket’s cooperation and support to bank teams while announcing the 5 tournaments sponsored respectively by Kuwait Banks Club, Ahli United Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, Al-Ahli Bank of Kuwait & Boubyan Bank.
Mr. Mahmoud Bastaki said that Kuwait Banks club has always been encouraging all sporting activities for bank teams and introduction of cricket for bankers has provided more job opportunities for deserving players and pledged his unconditional support to promote cricket for bankers.
In the inaugural match, Commercial Bank gave a tough time to their much talented opponents Ahli United Bank who with their vast experience and skills managed to win the match by 5 wickets. On a slow pitch, the Commercial Bank batting line up failed to negotiate the spinning track and could manage only 61 runs. Saheer Hassan top scored with 13 runs followed by Habeeb Basha 12 runs & Issam Sageer with 11 runs. Abdul Rasheed (3 for 9 runs) of AUB was the chief wrecker as he accounted for the three top order CBK batsman while Dinesh Kumar (2-14) & Saud Qamar (2-9) supported the spinning combination of AUB.
Anyhow, it proved that batting was not that easy as Commercial bank made great inroads to dismiss the top order Ahli United batsmen. Ahli United Bank’s Dinesh Kumar who played a steady game scored 19 runs to take AUB to the winning stage. Nitin, Shadab Kandiyil, Kunal Singh & Habeeb Basha bowled well to capture a wicket each. Dinesh Kumar for his all-round skills was declared Player of the match.
In the second match of the day, National Bank of Kuwait prevailed over Burgan Bank by 4 wickets. Batting first, Burgan bank started well as Rameez Parkar and Anuj Rohtagi played quality cricket but as soon as spinners were introduced from both ends, wickets began to fall as nine pins and at the end of 20 overs Burgan could manage only 79 runs for 7 wickets.
Ronald Fernandes, the right arm off spinner of NBK, resembling the bowling action of Indian spin wizard Harbajan Singh captured 3 wickets for 9 runs while Kiran Lobo (2-5), Binu Mathew and Rahman Ansari took a wicket each for NBK.
On a slow turning track, chasing a moderate total was not that easy as NBK top order failed to maintain the momentum of scoring fast. NBK skipper Khuram Rana played well to score 23 runs while Kiran Lobo (19 runs) & Ronald Fernandes (13 runs) chipped to notch the winning score. Manohar Byndoor the Burgan skipper bowled exceptionally well as he spun a web over the NBK batsmen with his slow right arm off spin deliveries and his bowling figures of 4 for 15 was the best bowling performance of the day. Ronald Fernandes was declared Player of the match for his top notch bowling performance.
In the last match of the day, Boubyan Bank notched an 8 wickets victory over Kuwait International Bank. Batting first, KIB put up a brave show by scoring 104 runs, mainly through a powerful knock of 34 runs by Nadeem Bhutt ( 5 fours & 1 six) who was well supported by Moiz who scored a brisk 20 runs to his credit. Hisham Mirza (2-21), Ginu Vaikath (2-15) & Sabir Ali (2-14) were the main wicket takers for Boubyan. Irfan Jamil, Rifkas Ibrahim & Mazhar Basit claimed a wicket each.
Boubyan Bank went on scoring heavily in the initial overs as Mazhar Basit and Aamir Javed plundered runs at will. Mazhar’s entertaining knock of 43 runs contained 6 hits to the fence while Aamir Javed hits quick fire 19 runs ( 2 sixes & I four) Irfan Jameel who came next was equally fast in scoring as he struck a neat 25 runs to hit the winning shot in the 11th over. Mazhar Basit was declared Player of the Match for his wonderful knock of 43 runs.
The match was officiated by Navin Dsouza, Syed Nadeem, Abdul Qayum, Gerald Pinto & Fareed Dalwai.
Filed in: All • Expats in Kuwait • Local News
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