PISJ-ES crowned U-19 school champions

Pakistan International School Jeddah (English Section) maintained their winning streak when got the better of Pakistan International School (Al-Aziziyah) in the final of U-19 Inter Schools Cricket Tournament, sponsored by Johnson Control and Saudi Cricket Association (SCC), organized by the Western Province Cricket Association (WPCA) recently.
PISJ-Al Aziziyah elected to bat first and put on board 156 runs in the allotted overs. Openers Mudassir and Shahbaz were off to a flying start and put up 64 runs for the opening wicket. But after they were back in the pavilion, wickets fell at regular intervals as the other batsmen failed to tackle the rival bowlers.
However, Saqlain (37) and Sultan (23) later propped latter half of the innings, which enabled them to put up a decent total.
Saleh Ahmed and Shuaib excelled with ball and bagged 2 wickets each.
PISJ-ES then responded to the challenging total aggressively after the early fall of opener Salman. The other opener, captain Fuqan was joined by Anas Malik and they put on 60 runs for the second wicket. However, the bowling side soon saw the backs of these two batsmen in quick succession.
Thereafter, wickets began to fall regularly. However, Habib and Saleh Ahmed put their heads down and carved a way for victory.
When just 15 runs were needed PISJ-ES lost Habib. However, Saleh Ahmed kept his cool in the final overs and helped his school bag the title.
Kifayat Ali and Imran officiated the match and Naushad was the commentator.
Farrukh Shahbaz of Johnson Controls was the chief guest and gave away the prizes along with WPCA officials Shohail Shah, Choudhry Shafique, Khalil Dawood and Hamid Rasheed.
The following players were awarded for outstanding performance in the tournament:
Man-of the-Match: Saleh Ahmed for scoring 45 runs and 2 wickets. Men-of-the-semifinals: Hisham with 36 runs; Furqan Farrukh with 82 runs. Best Batsman: Anas Malik with 203 runs.
Best Bowler: Saleh Ahmed with 12 wickets. Third placed: DPS Al-Falah School.
School Principal and Pakistan Senator, Sehar Kamran congratulated the PISJ-ES team over their triumphant victory. She also appreciated the efforts of Hamid Rasheed and Shafeeq.