Club News

Spin Magician Ghufran Ali destroyed the United Hunters batting line up with 5 wickets haul and Captain Ali Shah’s electrifying century help Halton win by 6 wickets.

Oakville/Burlington, Ontario August 1, 2009

United Hunters won the toss and elected to bat first on a cloudy day and wet out field. Although, HSCC star pacer Naveed Sehrai was missing at the start of the session but Pacer Bilal Syed fill in remarkable and took full advantage of cloudy weather in swing the ball and forced Sandhu to play an out swinger which end up in wicketkeeper Ali Shah hand and United Hunter was 1 down for 9 runs on the board. Nadeem Mahmood followed Bilal and he got Harjit Dhiman play and in swinger which ended up in the first slip and UHCC 2 down for 10 runs.

Captain Ali Shah wasted no time in bringing in Spin Magician Ghufran Ali to attack from west end and rest was a history as the rest of the session belonged to the Ghufran Ali who made the United Hunter batsman go through the revolving door on a regular internal as he capture season best 5 for 27 runs. Halton Stars restricted the UHCC strong batting line up to 149 for 9 in 36 overs. Bilal Syed, Nadeem Mahmood, Naveed Sehrai and Arsalan Baig supported Ghufran with one wicket each.

Halton Stars batting session presented an imperious century from Ali Shah and study and patient knock by Imran Kazmi. Right from the first ball it was evident from the batting approach by Ali Shah and Imran Kazmi that pursuit of 149 was not going to be a problem for the Halton Stars. While Ali was hammering boundaries and sixes, Imran was playing patiently and placing the ball in gaps for single to allow in-form Ali to be on strike as much as possible.

When partnership reach 71 runs, while trying to play a cut in the gully and edged the ball and was caught in the slip for 15 runs. Veteran Saleem Zafar stepped in as 1 down and followed the game approach adopted by Ali and Imran, he too placed the ball in the gaps for Ali to be on strike and slowly score reached 137 when Saleem Zafar was caught at short leg for 14 runs which includes one towering six. Knowing that only 13 runs are needed, Ali wasted no time in getting the target score 150 in 29 overs in commanding 6 wicket victory by Halton Stars. Ali Shah 80 balls electrifying century included 7 fours and 7 towering sixes in his 103 not out.

The bowlers had done the hard work earlier, dismissing KVSS for mere 106 runs and Abreez Gul and Ghufran Ali offered a gentle reminder to the rest of the league that there's more to Halton Stars's batting than the top five in the top order.

In the second game of the weekend, Story was the same except that it was total team domination. KVSS claimed the toss and elected to bat first. Naveed Sehrai and Nadeem Mahmood opened the attack for Halton stars. Bhupendra Patel and Ashish Patel opened the inning for the KVSS and start hitting reckless shots and put the pressure on Halton stars.

Captain Ali shah recognized the situation and quickly made the change and brought in Imran Raja from east end and he quickly produced the result, when score was 31 runs, Imran bowled out Bhupendra for 29 runs, then Bilal Khan was brought in from the other end and he trapped Ashish Patel for 38 and Suddenly KVSS was 45 for 2 wickets down. Rest of KVSS batting line up could not sustained Halton Stars bowling attacked and were all out for mere 106 runs.

Imran Raja and Bilal Khan were the main wicket takers; both took 3 wickets for 31 runs and 10 runs respectively. Ghufran Ali chipped in with 2 wickets and Saqib with 1 wicket.

KVSS got rid of Halton Stars opening batting order without too much trouble, but found Abreez Gul and Ghufran Ali impossible to dislodge as the Halton Stars reached the target score with ease and to a comfortable six-wicket victory. Abreez Gul played a fine inning and scored 44 not out which includes 2 fours and 3 sixes and Ghufran Ali contributed with 23 runs.

Szafar