Rochdale Premier Cricket League round up

Bari of Baba XI receiving his man of the match award from Iqbal of RYCC.

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This week concluded the first round of Rochdale Premier Cricket League with the top eight teams out of 10 going into the second round, which is starting on 17 January.

The title race is heating up with the top three teams all winning their matches on Sunday.

The first match of the day was between Stoney Stars and Jandians. It was a must win game for Stoney Stars to keep hold of second place in the league.

Stoney Stars won the toss and elected to bat. It was an excellent start from their openers Yasir, 30 runs (not out), and Sajid Khan, 16 runs, and they were later joined by Wasim, 16 runs (not out), and Shakir 15 runs (not out).

Jandians bowlers could not control their bowling and gave away 32 runs in extras.

Stoney Stars managed a total of 122 runs.

It was not a good response from Jandians, losing two wickets in the first over with 5 runs on the scoreboard. A good partnership between Bilal, 26 runs, and Usman, 10, gave them some hope but none of the other batsmen survived against the good bowling attack of Stoney Stars.

Yasir was given man of the match for his 30 runs (not out) and 1 wicket for 5 runs.

The second match of the day was between RYCC and Baba XI.

RYCC won the toss and elected to bat. It was an excellent start from their opener Shakeel, 30 runs (not out), scoring 24 runs in the first over, but they also lost two wickets in the second over. A superb partnership between M Siddique, 29 runs, and Iqbal, 30 runs (not out), gave them hope to win the match.

Again there was some undisciplined bowling as 43 extra runs were given by the bowlers.

RYCC made 147 runs.

It was a disappointing response from Baba XI, losing their first opener to the second ball of the innings. Baba XI could only make 125 runs despite an excellent effort from Tayyab, 33 runs (not out), Bari, 32 runs (not out), Shahid, 14 run, and Jangeer, 10 runs.

It was a strong bowling attack from RYCC with Quyyom taking 1 wicket for 10 runs, Tayyab 1 wicket for 12 runs and Qunain Shah 1 wicket for 14 runs.

Bari of Baba XI was declared man of the match for his 32 runs (not out) and 1 wicket for 15 runs.

The next match was between Max XI and Unique.

Max XI won the toss and elected to bat. It was a good start for Max XI with all their batsmen scoring runs. Shoaib hit 26 runs, Zohaib 17 runs, Sultan 13 runs, Rashid 11 runs and Abdur Rehman 11 runs. Max XI scored 116 runs in their 8 overs.

In response it was a very good start from Unique with their top three batsmen playing excellent innings. Afridi hit 30 runs (not out), Munawar 30 runs (not out) and Asif 11 runs (not out) to give Unique hope of winning the match. They only needed 14 runs to win in the last over but their last two batsmen could only make 12 runs and they lost the match by two runs.

Shoaib of Max XI was declared man of the match for his 26 runs.

With the win Max XI kept their top spot with 16 points.

The fourth game of the day was between Rochdalians and All Stars.

Rochdalians won the toss and elected to bat first. It was a good batting performance from all of their batsmen with Faisal scoring 34 runs, Khan 22 runs, Malik 20 runs and Hamid 14 runs. Rochdalians made 121 runs in their 8 overs.

It was a good start from All Stars with Asif scoring 32 runs (not out), Atif 19 runs (not out) Abdul 14 runs and Imran 14 runs. It was another close finish with All Stars losing the match by 9 runs.

Faisal of Rochdalians was given man of the match award for his 34 runs and 1 wicket for 5 runs.

The last match of the day was between Suli XI and Lahore Greens. Again Suli XI failed to turn up for their match and two points were awarded to Lahore Greens.

All of the players praised organisers Abdul Quyyom and Mohammed Siddique and committee members Haji Zafar, Saleem and Wasim for their hard work in setting up the league and also giving them opportunity to play and enjoy game of cricket even in snowy weather.