Riyadh Cricket Association won both their matches in the intercity event against Yanbu Al Sinaiyah Cricket Association played at MYAS Cricket Ground in Yanbu recently.
In the first T20 day night match, RCA XI scored a thrilling two-run win over YACA XI. RCA XI captain Mohammed Nadeem Babar won the toss and elected to bat. RCA XI managed to put on board 138 for 8 from the stipulated overs.
Rizwan Manzoor held the innings together with a stubborn 36. He was supported by Salman Butt (23), Abdul Qadir (19) and Abbasi (17). Sarfraz got 2 wickets while Nadeem, Afzal and Naseem grabbed a wicket each. Chasing the target of 140, YACA XI started well but later on caved in to the rivals bowlers. Iftikhar top-scored with 40 runs; Sarfraz also played well and remained unbeaten on 34. Captain Babar led from the front and took 4 wickets with his brilliant spell of fast bowling, including a hat trick. Rizwan Manzoor and Abdul Wahab took a wicket each. RCA XI fielded excellently and took some brilliant catches. Abdul Salam in particular was brilliant in the field. Babar was declared Man of the Match.
In the 40-over match RCA XI again beat YACA XI by 19 runs. RCA XI captain Babar won the toss again and decided to bat and scored 261. Abdul Wahab was the highest scorer with 65 runs followed by Omar Zafar 60, Imtiaz Butt 33 and Muzaffar Majeed 22. Israr bowled well for YACA and took 5 wickets. Sarfraz chipped in with 3 wickets. YACA XI started their chase well and put 79-run partnership for the first wicket. However, after the fall of the first wicket they lost wickets at regular intervals thanks to fine bowling and fielding by RCA XI. Afzal was the highest scorer with 52 runs. Ahmedullah 46, Ijaz 38 and Abdullah 28 were the other who impressed. Zeeshan Haider destroyed the YACA XI batting line up by taking 5 wickets.
Muzaffar Majeed took 3 wickets. Kamran Hadi and Mohammed Nadeem Babar took a wicket each. Zeeshan Haider was declared Man of the Match. RCA patron, Mohammed Anwar and RCA President Tariq Javed congratulated the winners.
RCA triumphs in intercity event
RCA triumphs in intercity event
Newcastle complete cruise into Champions League last 16
- The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham
NEWCASTLE, United Kingdom: Newcastle United completed their stroll into the Champions League last 16 with a 3-2 win over Qarabag on Tuesday to progress 9-3 on aggregate over the Azeri champions.
The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
A tie that involved an over 5,000-mile (8,000 kilometer) round trip for both sides was killed off inside 45 minutes last week as Newcastle led 5-0 at half-time on their way to a 6-1 rout.
That allowed Eddie Howe to heavily rotate his side, with four-goal hero from the first leg Anthony Gordon among those left on the bench.
Newcastle still made another fast start to add to their lead twice inside six minutes.
Sandro Tonali fired in the rebound after Dan Burn’s shot was saved before Joelinton stroked in Harvey Barnes’ cross.
Qarabag had taken the scalps of Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt in the league phase to make the play-off round and at least salvaged some pride with two goals in the second half.
Camilo Duran outpaced Burn to pull a goal back before the Newcastle defender was penalized for handball inside the box.The Magpies will make up a six-strong contingent of English sides in the last 16 alongside Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham.
Aaron Ramsdale saved Marko Jankovic’s penalty but Elvin Jafarguliyev netted the rebound.
In between the visitors’ two goals, Sven Botman powered in a header from a corner.
That took the tally of goals conceded by Qarabag in the Champions League to 30 — a single season record in the competition.
