June 17, 2007	Sunday	Jumadi-us-Sani 01, 1428

KARACHI, June 16: The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Emirates Global Islamic Bank (EGIB), and Soneri Bank won their respective matches in the first Meezan Inter-bank cricket tournament played at the different grounds of the city the other day.

The SBP crushed Arif Habib Rupali Bank (AHRB) by 99 runs. Batting first, the SBP hammered 211-4 off the allotted 25 overs with Zohaib Ali (95), Adnan Javed (48) and Fazal-ur-Rehman (38) being their chief scorers.

In response, the AHRB could only muster 112-9. Majid Akhtar and Amin Bohri scored 23 each as Fazal got 3-20 and Hussain Abbas 2-17. SBP’s Zohaib was declared man of the match.

In the second game the EGIB beat Bank Islami by 33 runs.

Batting first, the EGIB scored 201-5 in 25 overs with Abdul Moeed (74), Zafar Raza (59 not out), and S Karrar Hussain (28) shining with the bat. Bank Islami’s Gohar Iqbal and Talha Hussain picked two wickets each.

Bank Islami fell short by 33 runs despite useful contributions from Talha (51 not out) and Hameed Khan (45). Abdul Moeed, who received the man of the match award, and Abdul Qadir, grabbed two wickets each.

The last encounter saw Soneri Bank overcoming NIB Bank by 23 runs. The former accumulated 192-7 off 25 overs through fine batting from Altaf Lakhani (57) and Rehan Termizi (27). Ajeet Kumar and Shahid Khan claimed two scalps each.

In reply, NIB Bank could reach 169 before being dismissed as Mubashir Ali and Najeeb Gilani chipped in with 61 and 45, respectively.

Aamir Raza snapped 5-19, while Amin Nawaz got 2-26. Aamir received the man-of-the-match award.