International Coaching & Invitational Final

The Dhahran Cricket Association 2013-2014 season drew to a close with the International Coaching Session & final of the Invitational Tournament. The tournament is one of the premier cricket events for amateur cricketers in the Eastern Province. The event draws players from all over the province featuring 12 teams including 10 Teams from various Corporate and League teams and two Saudi Aramco teams. Over 200 players participated in the tournament that spanned over two months. This year the DCA board changed the format of the tournament to play a record 37 matches that gave opportunity for the teams to play more matches during the group stage. Teams are attracted to participate in the event not only for the high level of cricket, but to get a chance to play on the beautiful cricket facilities in Dhahran. The final of the tournament was played between DCA Thunder and Gulf Steel.

Salahuddin Ahmad who is former Pakistani test cricketer & former chief selector of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was the chief guest for this year’s event. DCA players had extensive coaching session with Salahuddin Ahmad before the match. Batsmen, bowlers, fielders were given useful tips that will help them in improving their cricket skills.

The match started amid a lot of excitement as DCA Thunder was the reigning champions whereas Gulf Steel also had a stellar tournament. DCA were led by veteran captain Asim Khan, whereas Gulf Steel was led by Umar Lodhi. After winning the toss DCA put Gulf Steel into bat. The bowling attack was led by Atif Sibghatullah who used his swinging abilities to get Bilal Khan out in the first over. After an unexpected slow start Gulf Steel gradually consolidated and were helped by lackluster hitting by Imran Hassan who scored a blazing 55 from just 27 balls. Gulf Steel managed to score 186 runs within the 20 overs and set a challenging target for DCA. Team Thunder started the chase well with Sarfraz Alam scoring yet another 50 for his team. However once he got out wickets fell at regular intervals resulting in the scoring rate being slowed down. Atif Sibghatullah provided some hope for DCA, however he too couldn’t manage to score the runs required in the last over. Gulf Steel won the Invitational Championship by a margin of 18 runs. Qeiser Muqeem was awarded man of the match for scoring 21 runs and taking 4 crucial wickets.

The tournament concluded with a prize distribution ceremony where the chief guest Salahuddin Ahmad mentioned how impressed he was with the facilities and the abilities of the cricketers. He thanked the organizers and specifically Farooq A Khan, President DCA for all his efforts to promote cricket in Saudi Aramco. The organizers, umpires and players received awards for participation in the tournament. DCA would like to thank the entire team at Dhahran Recreation and specifically Turki Rayyani, Douglas Wuttke, Aziz Khazaei for providing outstanding logistic support during the tournament. The president also appreciated the efforts of DCA board members, Invitational Tournament Coordinators & volunteers for their time that made the tournament a success.

(By Rehan Khan & Farhan Kasbati)