Saudi Arabia win ACC Western T20 tournament

Andrew Nixon



With the ICC's expansion of T20I status to all of its members having taken effect in the men's game from the start of this month, the first teams to take advantage of their new found status were Bahrain, Kuwait, Maldives, Saudi Arabia and hosts Qatar who played in the ACC Western Region T20 which concluded today.Hosts Qatar had gone unbeaten throughout the round-robin stage of the tournament and were favourites in the final against Saudi Arabia. The Saudis were in form though coming off the back of a remarkable final round-robin stage match against Kuwait in which they chased down a target of 136 in just 9.1 overs to move into second place on net run rate. Faisal Khan scored 83 from just 28 balls to secure the win, bringing up his fifty from just 15 balls.It was the third fastest T20I fifty on record but, as with the whole tournament and similar women's tournaments in recent months that featured record breaking performances, has gone entirely without mention by the International Cricket Council on any of their digital channels. Given that the ICC claimed that giving these matches full T20I status would help promote the teams to a wider audience, it seems odd that they'd then not promote the matches themselves in any way.Back to the final, it was the Saudis who won the toss, putting Qatar into bat. The home side lost both openers cheaply early in their innings, and it took a knock of 68 off 38 balls from number six Tamoor Sajjad to help give their total some respectability. Sajjad - who turned 27 on Tuesday and has been playing for Qatar for 13 years - shared in a 59 run partnership for the fifth wicket that helped Qatar reach 157-6 from their 20 overs.The Saudis started their chase quickly, reaching 28 in 2.3 overs when they lost their first wicket. This brought Faisal Khan to the crease and he clubbed 36 from 15 balls before he was dismissed. Shamsudheen Purat was also in a big hitting mood though, and he scored 88 from 48 balls to secure the 8 wicket win for his team.