Pakistan News & Features Services
SPM Stags cruised into the Punjab regional semifinals of the 16th National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2014 by hammering Yaqoob XI by 92 runs in the quarter-finals held at the Swedish College Ground in Gujrat.
Batting first, SPM Stags scored 234 in 30 overs with Karamat Ali (56), Afzal Shah (31), Zahid Umar (31), Shahzad Butt (19), Rehan Rauf (16), Shakeel Malik (15) and Ashfaq Aslam (15) contributing their bit as the wickets were shared between Sohail Mushtaq (2-27), Nadeem Aslam (2-33), Mohammad Mannan (2-34), Mohammad Shafiq (2-46) and Mohammad Yaqoob (1-32).
Yaqoob XI, in reply, was bowled out for 142 in 24.2 overs with Mohammad Nadeem (39), Nisar Ahmad (26) and Anwar Haider (17) being the leading scorers as the innings was wrecked by the trio of Rehan Rauf (3-12), Zahid Khan (3-21) and Shakeel Malik (2-38).
Aftab Qureshi XI had already reached the Punjab regional semifinals by having defeated Askari Greens by six runs in the quarter-finals held at Zahoor Elahi Stadium, Gujrat.
A record number of 108 teams from 58 cities entered the 16th National Seniors Cup which commenced during the month of March. The participants included 35 city outfits from Punjab, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight from Sindh, three from Islamabad and one from FATA.
The southern region competition was completed last month and its winners, Omar Associates, will be pitted against the champions of the northern region in the national final to be played in Lahore later this month. The event is being jointly sponsored by Arif Habib Corporation Limited and Omar Associates (Pvt) Limited.
