Department of Health (DoH) and White Hunters entered the final of the 6th Sandy League cricket tournament which is conducted by the Abu Dhabi Cricket at their grounds in Abu Dhabi.
The title clash will be held on Friday April 19 on Ground No 4 from 1.30pm onwards.
Man of the match Fayaz Ahmed played a vital role with the ball and later the bat to take DoH to a comfortable six wicket win over Etihad Airways.
In the other semifinal White Hunters had a lot of players contributing with the bat in their 54 run win over Zaviyar but it was Gopa Kumar’s four wickets that earned him the man of the match award.
Batting first Etihad had two players getting to their half centuries and should have done better rather than the 193 they managed after 20 overs.
Mazhar Bashir (15) and Ahsan Riaz (29) set the platform. Later Adnan Nizar (50 from 36 balls 3×6, 4×4) and Tariq Afride (56 from 34 balls, 4×6, 6×4) added 96 runs and Etihad were racing to a big total until Fayaz (3-37) and Moinudeen Zayed (2-18) applied the brakes on their scoring by taking wickets at regular intervals.
DoH’s reply was strong with Jamshed Butt (53), Baber Ghazanfar (51 not out) and Fayaz Ahmed (50 not out) winning them the match in 16.3 overs.
White Hunters sent into bat scored 209 for 7. Wazir Khan (57), Mohamed Asif (43), Bilal Sajid (38) and Abdulla Abbasi (32) feasted on the Zaviyar bowling.
While the Zaviyar bowlers struggled it was the opposite for White Hunters Gopa Kumar who finished with four for 22 and Mohamed Asif who scalped three to bowl Zaviyar out for 155.
Brief scores (semifinals):
Department of Health beat Etihad Airways by 6 wickets
Etihad 193 for 6 in 20 overs (Tariq Afride 56, Adnan Nizar 50, Ahsan Riaz 29; Fayaz Ahmed 3-37, Moinudeen Zayed 2-18) DoH 197 for 6 in 16.3 overs (Jamshed Butt 53, Fayaz Ahmed 50 n.o., Baber Ghazanfar 51 n.o.; Tariq Afride 2-22, Joseph Varghese 2-27). Man of the match: Fayaz Ahmed.
White Hunters beat Zaviyar CC by 54 runs
White Hunters 209 for 7 in 20 overs (Wazir Khan 57, Mohamed Asif 43, Bilal Sajid 38, Abdulla Abbasi 32; Akhter Shehzad 2-38, Ghulam Murtaza 2-36) Zaviyar 155 all out in 16.1 overs (Muzammil Ishaque 37, Akhter Shehzad 29, Fayaz Ahmed 24, Ghulam Murtaza 22; Gopa Kumar 4-22, Mohamed Asif 3-29, Bilal Sajid 2-40). Man of the match: Gopa Kumar.
