Amar Cables clinch National Seniors Cricket Cup title

KARACHI: Lahore's Amar Cables Seniors clinched 21st National Seniors Cricket Cup title, beating Karachi's Haseen Habib Seniors by three wickets in the national final played here at the Naya Nazimabad Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Haseen Habib batted first in the final and scored 202 runs for the loss of nine wickets in allotted 30 overs. Adnan Siddiqui scored 51 runs off 39 balls with three sixes and as many fours. Ahmed with 33 runs and Fawad Bari with 25 runs were the other main scorers. For Amar Cables, Tariq Rasheed took three wickets for 38 runs and Skipper Waqas Ahmed took two wickets for 47 runs.

Amar Cables reached the target in 27.5 overs for the loss of seven wickets. Bilal Khilji played an unbeaten innings of 66 runs off 64 balls with two sixes and three boundaries. Skipper Waqas Ahmed coming to bat at No.7 produced an excellent match-winning innings of 54 runs off only 25 balls. He hit four sixes and as many boundaries. All of his sixes landed outside the stadium. Jamshed Suleman scored 26 and Ashraf Ali 23.

Waheed Ahmed took three wickets for 24.

PVCA Chairman Fawad Ijaz Khan was the chief guest during the prize distribution ceremony. Amar Cables skipper collected the trophy and cash prize of Rs100,000. Haseen Habib skipper received the runners-up trophy and cash price of Rs50,000.

Cash Prizes of Rs5,000 each were given to Waqas Ahmed (Player of the Final), Faisal Mirza (Best Batsman), Imran Ali (Best Bowler), Farhan Asghar (Best Wicket Keeper) and Jaffer Qureshi (Best All Rounder).

The tournament is organised every year by Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA). This year, 58 teams from 50 cities of Pakistan participated in this tournament.