Amer Ilyas Butt led Amar Cables to the National Veterans Cricket Final after his team made history by winning all the Veterans cricket match till the regional final.
In its debut stint of the 14th National Veteran Senior Cricket Cup it first won the district level title and now clinched the regional final to be the first team to be playing the National final on debut.
In the Regional Final, Amar Cables edged aside Lahore Whites by four runs for a place in the national final.
Playing at the Bag-e-Jinnah Cricket Ground, Amar Cables batting first gathered 179 all out after 29.5 overs. Shahid Mansoor 58, Muhammad Arif 42, Tariq Rasheed 21, Rouf Wain 19 and Amir Manzoor 15 were the main runs scorers.
Saleem Malik had two wickets for Lahore giving away 27 runs, Shahid Aslam also had two for 39 while Mohtasham Rasheed got one for 21, Tariq Siddiqui one for 22 and Shahid Meer one 31.
In reply Lahore White reached 175 for all out after 29.2 overs. Mohtasham Rasheed 57, Ghaffar Kazmi 24 and Saleem Malik batted well and remained unbeaten at 55. But Amar Cables bowling led by Tariq Rasheed three for 19, Munir Shah three for 29, Rouf Wain three for 30, Jahangir Khan one for 41 and Tariq Hussain one 33 kept a tight line to keep Lahore in check throughout the proceeding.
Ahsan Raza, Shozab Raza were the field umpire, Muhammad Asif was reserve umpire, Aziz-ur-rehman match referee, Javeed Ashraf coordinator, Masood Ahmad and Qasim Shafiq was the scorer.
Later, chief guest Chairman Lahore Gymkhana Zia-ur-Rehman gave away the winner’s trophy and cash award of Rs 100,000 to Captain of Amar Cables Ameer Akbar while the runner-up trophy and Rs 50,000 was received by to Lahore White Captain Saleem Malik. The man of the match award and Rs 5000 went to Tariq Rasheed of Amar Cables, Ghaffar Kazmi was the best batsman and got Rs 7500, Zaheer Ahmad for his best wicketkeeping got Rs 7500, Asim Sheikh was the best bowler and received Rs 7500 and also best courage award to Manzoor Ali Arif.
PVCA Chief Executive Nawab Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, Umair Wirk, Rizwan Nisar, Nadeem Asif, Amer Ilyas Butt, Saleem Salamat, Col Rafi Naseem, Tariq Saeed, Raja Asad, Khalid Butt and sports organizers were also present sportsman on the occasion.
