Munir Dar, Azhar Illahi and Jawaid Iqbal lift LSW Warriors to Saturday Cup glory

A devastating spell of bowling by Munir Dar followed by a double century opening partnership between Azhar Illahi and Jawaid Iqbal lifted LSW Warriors to an emphatic ten wicket victory over Saracens in the Saturday Cup final played in sticky conditions at Mission Road on 22nd April 2006.

Saracens batted first in the humid conditions and they could only post a modest score of 216 all out in their innings with Rohan Boghani scoring 64 and Ravi Sujanani 49. Munir Dar, the league's most successful wicket-taker in 2005-06 with 45 victims, was the chief destroyer as he claimed six wickets for 43 runs from his 10 over spell.

In reply, the LSW openers of Azhar Illahi and Jawaid Iqbal, had little trouble against the Saracens bowling attack and the two combined for an unbroken partnership of 220 runs. Illahi finished unbeaten on 107 whilst Iqbal reached a more sedate 80 not out.

Saracens had fallen to their second successive Cup final defeat whilst LSW Warriors batting proved unbeatable in the knock-out competition as they only lost a total of seven wickets in their four matches played.

Lamma and Kai Tak teams after the Plate Final © HKCA

There was a high-scoring thriller in the Saturday Plate Final played at Po Kong Village Number 1 Ground. Lamma batted first and they pounded 266-9 off 34 overs when time was called at the end of the first innings. Jamshed Khan top scored with 84 whilst Toby White and Jonathan Seifman both hit half-centuries. Brad Haskett was the best of the Kai Tak bowlers, claiming four wickets.

Kai Tak had reached 251-9 off 33 overs when a halt was called to play at the end of the allowed time with the game tantalisingly poised. Dave Belcastro and S Wall both hit forties for Kai Tak whilst Mark Burns claimed four wickets.

The on-field umpires awarded Kai Tak the match on account of their superior run-rate but an appeal by Lamma saw the match result referred to the HKCA for arbitration. The HKCA upheld the result and Kai Tak won their second successive trophy, having won the Saturday Cup title in 2004-05.

Only one match was played in the inaurgural HKCA Skitz Sports Bar Women's Knock-out Cup competition, played in a Twenty20 format, with HKCC scoring a resounding ten wicket victory over LSW.

LSW batted first and scored at nearly a run a ball as they reached a total of 113-4 from their 20 overs with Keenu top scoring with 62. In reply, Natasha Miles scored an unbeaten 50 and Betty Chan finished on 37 not out as HKCC proved too strong in the end.

In the other match, Lamma were gifted a walk-over as KCC were unable to raise a side.

The final will be played on 30th April at KCC with Lamma facing HKCC.