Pakistan News & Features Services
Shahid Anwar’s century powered Golden Eagles into the Punjab regional semifinals of the 16th National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2014 as they defeated Gujranwala Blues by four wickets in the quarter-finals held at the Aligarh Ground.
With the qualification of Golden Eagles the regional semifinal line-up was completed as the trio of Chaudhary Sports, Aftab Qarshi and SPM Stags had already booked a place in the last four.
Batting first, Gujranwala Blues amassed 248 for seven in the allotted 30 overs with Majid Saeed (87), Kamran Dar (60), Naeem Khalid (30) and Basit Butt (22 not out) being the leading scorers and the wickets were shared between Sajjad Akbar (3-57), Shan Shahid (1-42), Javed Hayat (1-43) and Chaudhary Tajamal (1-57).
Shahid Anwar’s knock of 101 allowed Golden Eagles to reach the target with an over to spare as they finished with 249 for six in 29 overs. Nadeem Farooqi (58), Mohammad Shahbaz (34) and Naseer Ahmad (34) also contributed substantially in the chase to overcome the threatening quartet of Tariq Mehmood (2-39), Abdul Jabbar (2-57), Naeem Khalid (1-25) and Aurangzaib (1-37).
Nawab Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, Chief Executive Officer, Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA), who was the chief guest in the prize distribution ceremony, presented Man of the Match award to Shahid Anwar for his superb century.
A record number of 108 teams from 58 cities had entered the 16th National Seniors Cup, having commenced in 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 has already been completed and its winners, Omar Associates, will take on 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.
