Double wicket competition: Pakistan, S.A. and N.Z. win again (24 Apr 1997)

24 April 1997

Pakistan, S.A. and N.Z. win again

Sports Reporter

LAHORE, April 23: Pakistan and South Africa from Pool "A" and New Zealand from Pool "B" won their matches on the second consecutive day, to ensure their berths in the semi-finals of the first International Double Wicket Floodlit Cricket Championship at the Qadhafi Stadium on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the last day of pool matches, Australia will play against India, UAE will face Zimbabwe, Pakistan will play South Africa (to decide number one and number two team of Pool "A") and New Zealand will play against Sri Lanka. The semi-finals and the final of the competition will be held on Friday.

Pakistan, playing very cautiously, defeated Zimbabwe by five runs on Wednesday. The Pakistani duo managed to restrict the Zimbabwe pair to grand total of 50 and also dismissing the opposing batsmen thrice. Thus Pakistan needed only 21 runs for a win. Guy Whittal hit two fours in his total of 15 and was out twice. Edo Brandes scored 34 runs with the help of three sixes and two fours on 15 balls and was out once.

Shahid Afridi hit 26 runs with the help of two sixes and as many boundaries and consumed 20 balls. He was out once. Aaqib Javed score only three runs on 17 balls but was a solid of defence. He did not panic and got a win for Pakistan. Shahid Afridi again won "Man-of-the-Match" award for his all-round performance. Pakistan scored grand total of 35 and due to one dismissal gathered net total of 25 to win the match. The fourth match of the day was won by New Zealand against India by a close margin of three runs. The Indian pair of Attul Wassan and Sanjay Manjrekar hit a grand total of 50 but due to one dismissal, had a net total of 40. Sanjay Manjrekar scored 13 and was out once. Wassan scored 34 on 19 balls.

The Kiwi pair of Stephen Fleming and Simon Doull hit a grand total of 53 and had one dismissal. So the net total of 43 runs got Kiwis through in this match. Doull hit one six and two boundaries in his knock of 23. He was out once. Fleming also scored 23 with one six and three fours, using three boundaries.

South Africa defeated United Arab Emirates (UAE) by a wide margin of 80 runs due to some lusty hitting by Koen. He hit five huge sixes and eight boundaries in his swashbuckling knock of 87. Koen consumed only 25 balls to get those runs and was out only once. The South African pair got the net score of 77.

The UAE pair of Riaz Poonawala and Sultan Zarwani could muster 37 runs. But both were out twice. The pair had the net score of -3 (minus three) and was beaten by a comprehensive margin of 80 runs. Riaz hit one six and two boundaries in his score of 21, collected on 16 balls. Sultan hit one four in his knock of 13. He played 22 balls. Bacher and Koen both got the UAE pair out twice. Three extras were included in the UAE total. Having lost two consecutive games, UAE pair is out of the race for the semi-finals berths. Koen was declared "Man-of-the-Match" for his excellent all-round performance.

The Australian pair of Martyn and Angel lost its second successive match on Wednesday. Sri Lankan duo of Chandana and Wickremasinghe played sensible cricket to beat the Australians by five runs.

After winning the toss, the Sri Lankans put the Australian pair in to bat and restricted it to a total of 65. However, the Sri Lankans also got the Aussies out thrice and restricted them to a net total of 35. Martyn hit a fine knock of 47, studded with four big sixes and three boundaries. He played 23 balls. However, Martyn got out twice. Joe Angel could muster 12 runs on 14 balls, hitting two boundaries. The Aussie pair's total also included six extras.

With an easy target of 36 runs for a win, the Sri Lankans batted well against some good bowling. Chandana faced 19 balls and hit 21 runs. He played the last over in a sensible fashion without getting out and taking the Sri Lankan net total to 40. Wickremasinghe, although got out once, yet he hit 22 precious runs and also got two wickets to be declared "Man-of-the-Match". The Sri Lankans grand total of 50 also included seven extras.

Source:: Dawn (https://xiber.com/dawn/)