Cricket Clash
UPDATED TEAM STANDINGS: Eastern Province cricket teams clash on the pitch in Dhahran invitational
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An invitational tournament showcasing the best cricketing talent in the region has begun in Dhahran.
Organized by the Dhahran Cricket Association (DCA), 10 teams — six from the DCA and the other four from the wider Eastern Province Cricket Association — are competing over six weeks to be crowned champions. All games will be played at the Dhahran Cricket Ground.
The tournament, which runs through June 16, comes after Aramco’s sponsorship of cricket events such as the Indian Premier League and the World Test Championship Final in the U.K.
Cricket growing by leaps and bounds
For Wajahat Ali, business administrator in the Distribution and Terminals Project Department and DCA president, he hopes that Aramco’s growing role in cricket will give further exposure to the sport within the community.
“We want to make sure that there is a strong partnership between DCA and Aramco to help give further exposure to this game,” he said.
“For this invitational tournament, we’re glad to be getting extra exposure within Aramco to show that cricket is really growing here. I’m really excited to see it grow here and want to take it even further forward. We are thankful to Aramco for providing us such an amazing facility that one can only dream of.”
‘The Lords of the Eastern Province’
Dhahran boasts incredible cricketing facilities with a lush green field, electronic scoreboard, sight screens, and Zing stumps — which are used at the international level, and flash when hit by the ball.
Live scoring is also available for each match, so members can follow all the action on the field from their personal devices anywhere in the world.
Hassan K. Iqbal, business system analyst for Corporate Security Services and DCA vice president, said the facilities have greatly improved over the last 20 years.
“It’s really advanced. We’ve gone from playing on a concrete ground to playing on this phenomenal wicket, with beautiful green grass,” Iqbal said.
When teams from outside Aramco come here, it’s like coming to the Lords or the Adelaide Oval of the Eastern Province.
— Hassan K. Iqbal
It is not just the facilities that sets DCA apart from the rest, but also the incredible amount of data that is captured on the teams and players.
Najmul H. Ansari, who works in IT for the Petroleum Engineering Application Services Department, is DCA’s data guru. He says that there has been 15 years’ worth of data collected on hundreds of matches and more than 3,000 individual players.
He said: “Post-match, everything goes into the central database, which calculates all kinds of statistics, including your life average and season’s average. Every player has all of these numbers and we can track individual milestones, which we then celebrate.”
‘We have to lift this trophy’
While individual accolades are always important to cricketers, the focus for the players taking part in the tournament is team glory.
Rehan Khan, senior investment analyst and opening batsman and vice-captain of the Dhahran Kings, firmly has his eyes set on the big prize.
“We have to lift this trophy,” Khan said. “We’re coming in as one of the strong favorites, and we have quite a strong team so I expect us to do well.”
‘A big thank you’
Souban A. Thettu, computer systems specialist in Executive Support Group and DCA secretary, on behalf of the DCA community, thanked Finance and Development Support for its continued support and sponsorship of the tournament.
Tournament format
There are two groups of five teams who all play each other once. The top two teams from both groups will then go into the semi-finals.
Here are the two groups and current standing after the first week of the tournament.
Take a look at the latest results and standings from the invitational tournament below:
Teams standings are results are summarized below:
- May 5: DCA Kings vs. Mangalore Cricket Club; Dhahran Kings won by 13 Runs
- May 6: DCA Stars vs. Deloitte Cricket Club; DCA Stars won by 10 Runs
