Kuwaiti Season highlighted by Huge Scores

Thomas Thurairatnam is 'Beyond The Test World's' Kuwait correspondent

23-Jan-2000

Thomas Thurairatnam is 'Beyond The Test World's' Kuwait correspondent. Here Thomas provides you with the latest round-up of domestic news from Kuwait.

"The Kuwaiti season is well underway and there is some exciting stuff at that! The KBRC Trophy 50 over league standing as of 18th January is given below. Evergreen Al Sayer leads after being unbeaten with four wins while Gulf SPIC is in second place. Eight top teams in Kuwait play in this, the premier and most prestigious league organized by Gulf Consult.

M-----W-----L-----D-----Pts
Al Sayer  4-----4-----0-----0-----8
Gulf SPIC  4-----3-----1-----0-----6
Salmiya   4-----2-----2-----0-----4
Bombay Stars  4-----2-----2-----0-----4
Unity   3-----1-----1-----1-----3
Hubara   1-----0-----0-----1-----1
Taurus   3-----0-----3-----0-----0
Al Ahlia  3-----0-----3-----0-----0

The highlight of the competition so far has been the remarkable success of the bat over ball. This is rather typical of Kuwaiti cricket where a run-rate of eight an over is ordinary! The 400 run mark in 50 overs was crossed on four occasions including by both teams in one match!

Salmiya scored 401-5 in 50 overs against Al Ahlia who were all out for 152 registering a win by a margin 249 runs.

In the next match they did it again scoring 400 for 3 against Al Sayer. But Al Sayer fought back to reach the target of 401 for the loss of 5 wickets! Over 800 runs in one day. A record?!

Then it was Al Sayer's turn to plunder runs again when they hammered a record 474 for 4 wickets against Unity. The reply was 352 for 7 but a record of 822 runs were scored in the match.

There were two double centurions. Kuwait and Salmiya opening batsman Mohamed Nawaz scored 216 against Al Ahlia. Nawaz also notched up a neat 188 against Salmiya. But the highest score of the season so far came from middle order batsman Waheed of Al Sayer who blasted 231 not out against Unity. With such scores there were no bowling honours to talk of!

The following is the league standing in the Haliburton Classic league staged by Hubara Cricketers.

Team   M.------W-------L-------D-------Pts-----N.R.R.
Gulf SPIC  3-------3-------0-------0-------6-------+1.17
Bombay Stars  3-------3-------0-------0-------6-------+0.56
Al Sayer  3-------2-------1-------0-------4-------+0.51
Taurus   3-------1-------2-------0-------2-------+0.37
Peoples   3-------1-------2-------0-------2------ -0.11
Unity   3-------1-------2-------0-------2------ -0.36
Hubara   3-------1-------2-------0-------2------ -0.60
Al Qabbas  3-------1-------2-------0-------2------ -1.62

One reason why the scores are high is perhaps because the outfield is lightning quick. The grounds are all of a fair size and no boundary is smaller than 65 yards from the pitch. I like to believe it is the character of the game here. Most tournaments were of 30 overs a side till very recently.

The batsmen really go for it as there is no real threat of being all out. Due to the dry conditions movement in the air is minimal. This may be another factor. The playing surfaces are concrete or matting on concrete and the ball comes on to the bat nicely to allow stroke play.

The ICC development program will include a festival for 8-12 years olds in the first week of May. This is mainly to popularize the game here. There are also plans to train coaches which is a good thing for our youngsters. The under 17 Asia Cup is scheduled for July in Pakistan and Kuwait has been invited. The preparations have begun for these events and programs."

Kuwait