Galfar Cricket Club’s Saman receives the man of the match award.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

Saman was a man in a rich vein of form to inspire his side to fend off the challenge from Al Noof Cricket Club at West End Park Stadium. After losing the toss and being electing to bat Saman contributed 37 runs with teammate Prasanna adding 30 runs to help achieve a total of 167 runs for eight wickets in the West End Park Challenge Cup T20 contest.

In the second innings, Hassan and Nasir were most productive for Al Noof shooting scores of 33 and 22 runs, respectively. However with Saman, taking chief control of bowling duties, joined Narayan in taking two wickets apiece to limit the opponent’s run rate. Finally a tally of 141 runs for nine wickets was not enough to prevent Galfar the win and pave their way to the Challenge Cup quarter-final stage.

A naturally delighted Saman paid tribute to the work ethic of his teammates: “The team has been putting the effort in behind the scenes at the practice nets, it is the first time many of the squad played on turf/grass facilities which has been fantastic. The wicket is in good condition and the ball swings a lot which has been a good learning for the players.

“The secret of our success is to work hard, play our best and take it one game at a time. We look forward to the remainder of this wonderful competition and will challenge ourselves to be competitive in every game we compete in”.

West End Park Stadium will be hosting the Challenge Cup until till July 5. Sixteen teams from the Qatar Cricket Association B and C Divisions are participating the inaugural tournament. The Ramadan Tournament will follow from July 6 with twelve teams entering- ten from the Qatar Cricket Association A Division (and the two Challenge Cup finalists will be eligible). The tournament will create added excitement as four overseas players being permitted per squad and prize money up for grabs (QR 50,000 for first place and QR 25,000 for second place).