Rochdale Premier Cricket League Round Up

Iqbal of RYCC receiving man of the match award from M Siddique (one of the organisers of RPCL)

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An exciting week, with excellent wins for Lahore Greens against league leaders Max XI and for Baba XI against Stoney Stars. RYCC kept their winning momentum going and gain the top spot in the league.

The first match of the day was between Lahore Greens and Max XI. It was a must win game for Max XI to keep the top position in the league and for Lahore Greens to move up from bottom of the league. Max XI won the toss and elected to bat. They had a good start, scoring 101 runs in their 8 overs. Rashid scored 30 runs (not out) Shohib 27 runs (not out) and Amar 8 runs. Good bowling from Zafar, Shakeel and Javid restricted the Max XI batsmen. Good start from Lahore Greens losing their first wicket when 27 runs on the board. Amjad scored 32 runs (not out) and Shakeel 20 runs but none of the other batsmen got into double figures. Lahore Greens needed 33 runs in their last two overs and a good partnership between Shakeel and Amjad gave them hope to win the match. Zubair of Max XI could not control his bowling and gave away 27 runs in the penultimate over. Lahore Greens only needed 5 runs in the last over to win the match but Rehman of Max XI bowled an excellent over and Lahore Green could only manage to draw the match. This was the first draw of the league and meant each team had to bowl a super over. Lahore Greens won the toss and elected to bowl first. Zafar of Lahore Greens was asked to bowl the super over. Rashid and Zohib started the batting from Max XI. Good bowling from Zafar as Max XI lost both of their batsmen on first two balls. Max XI could only score 9 runs in the super over. Lahore Greens scored 10 runs with the loss of 1 wicket and won the match. Amjad of Lahore Greens was declared man of the match for his 36 runs.

The second match of the day was between All Stars and Unique. All Stars won the toss and elected to bat. They made an excellent start with all of their batsmen scoring runs; Imran 30 runs (not out), Atif 30 runs and Abuld 13 runs. All Stars scored 124 runs in total. Unique also made a good start as Afridi scored 30 runs (not out), Asif 29 runs, Noman 20 runs and Munawar 15 runs (not out). Unique won the match by two wickets with one over to spare. Munawar was given the man of the match award for his 15 runs (not out) and 4 wickets for 27 runs.

Stoney Stars won the toss in their match against Baba XI and elected to bat. Their openers Rauf scored 40 runs (not out), and Yasir scored 15 runs with Shakir adding 18 runs (not out). None of the other batsmen survived against good bowling from Baba XI, Tayab bowled 3 wickets for 1 run, Jangir bowled 1 wicket for 10 runs and Shakeel bowled 1 wicket for 16 runs. Stoney Stars managed to score 102 runs in total. Baba XI lost their first three batsmen with only 30 runs on the board. A very good partnership between Shakeel 40 runs (not out) and Iftikhar 20 runs (not out) won the match for Baba XI. Tayab of Baba XI was man of the match for his 3 wickets for only 1 run. With this win Baba XI moved to 4th place only 2 points behind Stoney Stars on third place.

In the match between RYCC and Rochdalians, RYCC won the toss and elected to bat first. Their openers made a good start with Quyyom scoring 15 runs, Tayab scoring 13 runs and Ali scoring 12 runs (not out). Good bowling from Malik with 2 wickets for 15 runs and Irfan with 2 wickets for 17 runs restricted RYCC to 103 runs. Rochdalians fancied their chances to win this match and they made a good start only losing their first wicket with 37 runs on the board. Kahn scored 26 runs, Malik 19 runs and Faisal 18 runs. An excellent bowling attack from RYCC with bowlers Quyyom taking 3 wickets for 17 runs, Qunain taking 1 wicket for 7 runs and Iqbal taking 1 wicket for 7 runs meant RYCC won by 6 runs. Quyyom of RYCC was given man of the match award for his 15 runs and 3 wickets for 17 runs. With this win RYCC are leading the league table with 20 points.