Omar CC hammer Al Hamza Sports in KG Ramazan Cricket

KARACHI: Omar Cricket Club whipped Al Hamza Sports by eight wickets in their Group A encounter of the Karachi Gymkhana Omar Associates Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament here at the KG Cricket Ground on Wednesday.

After restricting Al Hamza Sports to 127 for nine in the allotted 20 overs, Omar CC comfortably raced to the target with five overs and eight wickets in hand. Al Hamza Sports, who elected to bat, never recovered after losing early wickets and even the counter-attacking half century from opener Ahmed Hussain (57 off 39 balls) could not get them towards a commanding total.

Osama Butt (29 off 27 balls) and Waheed Ilyas (18 off 16 balls) were the only other batsmen to enter double figures as the Omar CC spinners, headed by Raza-ul-Hasan, kept them guessing. Raza returned the figures of three for 21 to win the Man of the Match award.

Omar CC, in contrast, got off to a flying start as the opening pair of Umar Siddiq and Usman Khan added 100 for the first wicket to turn it into a one-sided affair. Umar departed after scoring 26 off 24 balls but Usman remained there till the end, returning unconquered on 91 off 55 balls with the help of four sixes and 10 fours with the winning runs coming on the final delivery of the 15th over.