Agility stormed into the finals of the Lawson Memorial Cricket Cup after beating the seasoned Shaheen CC. The closely contested match was a big win for the Team Agility which is less than a year old. But what they lacked in experience they covered it with Team Work and application.
The match started early Friday morning on 22nd February, with Captain Waqar explaining the game plan to the team. Amad and Anees started the bowling and pegged the experienced batting line up of Shaheen with two wickets in the first four overs. Anees (1/29) accounted for the experienced Ishtiaq as he brought one in and wrecked his stumps, while Amad (1/30) accounted for the dangerous Ateeq by moving one away from him.
Whatever plans Shaheen CC had for counter attack were overturned by a fast inswinger from Waqar (1/31), who came first change, and got a wicket in his first over. From then on Shaheen tried to consolidate rather than attack and Agility applied more pressure with nagging line and length from Ahmed, Nisar and Akmal. Nisar (0/25) spun his spinning web on Shaheen's batsmen and they seemed to play him with little or no clue. Ahmed (0/19) and Akmal (1/16) both used their minds and skill to ensure that the pressure stayed on Shaheen's batsmen. Rizwan kept the wickets smartly and took a brilliant catch to remove the dangerous Ateeq.
With energy and team work Agility Cricket Team gave all on the field and kept on backing each other up. In the end Shaheen, who fell at least 30-40 runs short of the standard score in these matches, ended their innings with 171 runs in 25 overs.
Agility's reply was initiated by Nisar and Akmal. Shaheen applied all they had in terms of guile, pressure and experience to outsmart them. But they persevered. Nisar (58 off 48 balls) was the more belligerent of the two as he spanked 6 boundaries and a towering six.
A mini collapse was prevented by Rizwan and Waqar with 21(16) and 29(23) respectively. Shaheen tried to come back into the match with 3 quick wickets but Ahmed squashed their hopes with his 21(24).
In the end Team Agility won the match with 2 wickets in hand and with 4 balls to spare. In the finals they would meet KAICO on 14th March 2008.
The match started early Friday morning on 22nd February, with Captain Waqar explaining the game plan to the team. Amad and Anees started the bowling and pegged the experienced batting line up of Shaheen with two wickets in the first four overs. Anees (1/29) accounted for the experienced Ishtiaq as he brought one in and wrecked his stumps, while Amad (1/30) accounted for the dangerous Ateeq by moving one away from him.
Whatever plans Shaheen CC had for counter attack were overturned by a fast inswinger from Waqar (1/31), who came first change, and got a wicket in his first over. From then on Shaheen tried to consolidate rather than attack and Agility applied more pressure with nagging line and length from Ahmed, Nisar and Akmal. Nisar (0/25) spun his spinning web on Shaheen's batsmen and they seemed to play him with little or no clue. Ahmed (0/19) and Akmal (1/16) both used their minds and skill to ensure that the pressure stayed on Shaheen's batsmen. Rizwan kept the wickets smartly and took a brilliant catch to remove the dangerous Ateeq.
With energy and team work Agility Cricket Team gave all on the field and kept on backing each other up. In the end Shaheen, who fell at least 30-40 runs short of the standard score in these matches, ended their innings with 171 runs in 25 overs.
Agility's reply was initiated by Nisar and Akmal. Shaheen applied all they had in terms of guile, pressure and experience to outsmart them. But they persevered. Nisar (58 off 48 balls) was the more belligerent of the two as he spanked 6 boundaries and a towering six.
A mini collapse was prevented by Rizwan and Waqar with 21(16) and 29(23) respectively. Shaheen tried to come back into the match with 3 quick wickets but Ahmed squashed their hopes with his 21(24).
In the end Team Agility won the match with 2 wickets in hand and with 4 balls to spare. In the finals they would meet KAICO on 14th March 2008.
