Although cricket has been a vital part of Abqaiq life, it
wasn't until the early 1970's, when the first desis that were stationed in
Abqaiq decided to form a cricket team to pass their leisure time. Most of
the men then were bachelors or didn't have there families present in Abqaiq.
Cricket seemed to be the perfect solution to keep them occupied and happy when
they weren't working. It was during these years that the first Quad (Abqaiq,
Dhahran, Ras Tanura, and Jubail) cricket league was set up. After a weeks
worth of hard work, the men would get together on the weekends and practice
cricket. Once the pre-season was over, the real matches started.
Every weekend there would be a match amongst the four teams.
It was around the mid-to-late seventies that Abqaiq cricket
shot to prominence. This little town of a couple thousand inhabitants
began to dominate the Quad league. They won several big games in the
seventies, which saw the introduction of some players that would be part of
Abqaiq cricket for the better part of the next decade. This extraordinary
league of gentlemen included: Shahid Anwar (Tauseef's dad), Syed Kausar (Asad's
dad), Salam Khan, Maqsoodul Hasan (Yasir's dad), Mohammed Islamuddin, Mahmood
Subzwari (Zee and Danish's dad), Amin; to name a few.
The eighties saw the continued success of Abqaiq cricket and the
introduction of a new breed of players, some which included; Arif Qamar, Jamshed
Meer, Ashfaq Ahmed, and Sadiq U. Abqaiq retained their winning ways
this time period including the Eastern Province championship in 1982. Soon
after, most of the players started to retire or just stopped playing in order to
spend time with their families. Abqaiq cricket dwindled down to almost
nothing as did most of the other Quad teams. Independent leagues were
formed. During this time, a team by the name of Mareena was created and
went on to dominate cricket for the rest of the eighties and the early nineties.
Players such as captain Syed Kausar, Arif Qamar, and Jamshed Meer represented
Mareena.
It was not until 1992, incidentally after
Pakistan won the Cricket World Cup, that the next generation of Abqaiq
cricketers started to take interest in the game. In those days a bunch of
kids would get together, led by Nasir and Zaki Hussain, and play cricket.
It was during these years that such players as Yasir, Zeeshan, and Tauseef began
their Abqaiq cricketing careers. After the departure of Nasir Hussain,
Abqaiq cricket went back into hiding. Yasir and Zeeshan joined the Dhahran
Academy cricket team and led them to victory over Rahima, while Tauseef
continued playing cricket at the Indian Embassy School. It would 1995
before cricket came back with a bang in Abqaiq. The three older Punishers
had gone off to high school. While they were back in Abqaiq during winter
break, they met up with other future players; Asad, Ammad, Shariq, Danish, and
Imran Zafeer (Ammad's older brother) and decided to put together a team.
At first, the teams would be split into two teams and would compete against each
other. Later, Abqaiq found the opponents that would take their interest in
the game to a whole new level. The team, referred to commonly as the "Paindus"
was comprised of guys that attended the local Pakistani school. Thus was
born the Pind series (series page), that lasted until
1999, when most of the "Paindus" left Abqaiq permanently to pursue their higher
education.
Under the leadership of Arif Qamar, the
Abqaiq cricket team made the transition from playing tape-ball matches to
hard-ball matches. The practices got more frequent and the opponents even
tougher. The team played a series of matches against Dhahran, Al-Farah,
and most recently, Dammam (Arab News article). In December 2001, the
brainchild of Tauseef and Shariq was brought to life. They decided it was
time to set up some sort of league similar to that of Quad league. It
would include teams from Abqaiq, Dhahran, Ras Tanura, and Khobar. Even
though the league didn't pan out, an annual series between Abqaiq and Rahima
resulted from this experience. Abqaiq claimed the honors for the inaugural
Abqaiq-Rahima cup, while the second Abqaiq-Rahima cup is still progress, with
Rahima holding a 2-0 lead. In conclusion, cricket has always been an
integral part of Abqaiq life and will continue to be so.
