LAHORE: Rain had the final say here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday, leading to the abandonment of the Cool and Cool Presents National One-day Cup between National Bank of Pakistan and Islamabad. The teams, as a consequence, shared the winning trophy.

The intermittent rain which started Friday midnight continued throughout the day with intervals, forcing the umpires to finally abandon the final at 2:00pm as the rain continued.

The teams equally shared the prize money of Rs1.5 million.

NBP skipper Kamran Akmal also received a cash prize of Rs50,000 for being the event’s top-scorer (576 runs). Sadaf Hussain of KRL was declared the best bowler (20 wickets) and pocketed Rs50,000. The best all-rounder award of Rs50,000 went to Lahore Whites’ Raza Ali Dar (11 wickets, 293 runs).

100-Test Aleem Dar honoured by PCB

Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, Kamran said he was happy to be the event’s top run-getter.

According to some reports, Kamran has got the nod of the powerful lobby that always plays an important role in bringing players to the national team; therefore, the veteran wicket-keeper/batsman may return for the Asia Cup T20 and the World T20.

Last year also, Kamran was a prominent scorer on the domestic circuit but the right-hander was not in the list of the powerful lobby, so he could not get place in the team.

Zohaib Ahmed, Islamabad Region captain, appreciated the performance of his team for reaching the final while ruing the lost opportunity to face NBP in a potentially tough decider.

On the occasion, the PCB also honoured Aleem Dar, one of the world’s top-class umpires in international cricket, for supervising 100 Tests recently.

Aleem received a cheque of Rs1000000 and a shield from PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan.

All members of the PCB Governing Board also attended the prize distribution ceremony as they were in the city to attend a meeting of the Board.

Shaharyar lauded Aleem for becoming only third umpire — after West Indies’ Steve Bucknor and Rudi Koertzen of South Africa — to officiate in 100 or more Tests.

The 47-year-old Aleem, who made Test umpiring debut back in 2003 at the Bangladesh-England match in Dhaka, is the youngest of the three to have reached the coveted 100-Test milestone.

“We are delighted that an impressive personality like Aleem is here with us and we are giving him a small prize [in the form of cash prize and shield]. The PCB will also recommend his name for Sitara-e-Pakistan award,” Shaharyar announced.

The chairman said he had requested Aleem to spare some time for the PCB to conduct a workshop/seminar for local umpires, and suggest the Board on how to improve the standard of umpiring in Pakistan.

“Aleem has suggested [me] that retired cricketers should be encouraged to join the profession of umpiring,” the PCB chief stated.

But when pointed out that scanty match fees for umpires had no potential to attract cricketers or non-cricketers towards umpiring, the PCB chief said it was also one area which could be discussed with Aleem. Recently, Aleem expressed his concern over the low match fees for umpires in Pakistan domestic cricket.

Meanwhile, Aleem thanked the PCB for honouring him. The umpire — known worldwide for a very high percentage of decisions in top-level international cricket — said he suggested the PCB chairman to bring forward more umpires, expressing his desire that any Pakistani umpire replaced him when he reached the retirement age.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2016