A day after opening their Sharjah Ramadan Cup campaign with a comfortable eight-wicket win over Fly Emirates, Dubai Hawks sent out another warning to their rivals with a huge 110-run win over Unicon Real Estate at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Boasting UAE stars Ahmed Raza and Shaiman Anwar in their ranks, the Hawks looked ominous as they put 232 for four on the board in their 20 overs, with Shahzad Malik bludgeoning an unbeaten 106 off a mere 40 balls – an innings that was studded with 11 sixes and four fours. Anwar, of course, played his part as well, smashing a 42-ball 71.
Chasing that mammoth score, Unicon lost wickets early and despite a battling 40 (36 balls) from Naseeb Khan and a 19-ball 32 from Abdul Rahman, they could get no further than 122 for eight in their 20 overs, with Salman Farooq (3-16) and Fayyaz Ahmed (2-22) doing a great job of restricting the batsmen.
NMC, who had crushed Radio4 by 109 runs in their opening match of this Sharjah Cricket Council organised tournament, also looked good in a comfortable four-wicket win over the Old School Boys.
Restricting the Old Schools Boys to 132 for nine, NMC reached their target in 18.5 overs, thanks mainly to the brilliant start from Fayyaz Ahmed (31) and Mazhar Bashir (30), who put 44 on the board from the first five overs.
In the Al Dhaid Ramadan Cup, Amjad Gul’s blazing half-century guided Alubond Tigers to a comfortable eight wicket win over Royston CC at the Al Dhaid Cricket Village grounds.
Chasing a challenging 153 for a win, the Tigers suffered an early setback when UAe international Rohan Mustafa departed without bothering the scorers, but Gul made sure there would be no further alarms as he smashed 87 off just 39 balls, hitting 11 fours and five sixes in his stay.
Ghulam Shabbar (26) and Rameez Shahzad (21) then took the Tigers across the line, in just 13.5 overs.
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