Omar Associates in final as Amir takes six

KARACHI: Left-arm Test pacer Mohammad Amir’s destructive bowling enabled Omar Associates to qualify for the final on the basis of first innings lead when their three-day Patron’s Trophy Grade-II semi-final against Khayaban-e-Amin ended in a draw at LCCA Ground in Lahore on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Amir, who has returned to domestic cricket after four and a half years, captured 6-47 in 14 overs to enable K-Electric to dismiss Khayaban-e-Amin for 137 in 31.1 overs, in response to their rivals’ total of 276-6. The first innings was further reduced to 55 overs a side after a few overs were wasted due to bad weather on the third and final day.
Amir got these wickets in two spells in which he bowled from both ends. According to an eyewitness, the paceman from Gujar Khan bowled with great pace.
Opener Hasnain Bukhari top-scored with 48 off 41 deliveries which featured ten fours.
He added 55 runs for the second wicket with skipper Yasir Ajmal who belted 37 off 54 balls, hitting three fours and a six.
Salman Afridi (11) was the only other batter who entered double figures.
Amir was ably supported by Bilal Asif (3-22).
Omar Associates resumed their first innings at 145-4 and posted 276-6 in the stipulated 55 overs.
Fahad-ul-Haq, who was batting at 25 on Tuesday, scored an unbeaten 89, in which he smashed 13 fours and one six.
Fahad added 126 off 122 balls for the seventh wicket unbroken stand with Asif Raza, who struck an unbeaten 53 off 66 balls, having cracked three sixes and three fours.
Mohammad Waqas (76) fell early after adding only five runs to his overnight score. The Karachi boy added 68 runs for the fifth wicket with Fahad.
Babar Khan got 3-86, while Majid Ali claimed 3-71.
Zaheer Ahmed and Farooq Ali Khan supervised the match.
Meanwhile, the second semi-final between K-Electric and Karachi Port Trust (KPT) was abandoned after the third day’s play was also hit by wet conditions at Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said that the match was abandoned and the revised dates would be unveiled soon.
Ihtisham-ul-Haq and Rashid Riaz were to supervise the match.
It has been learnt that the remaining semi-final and final have been shifted to Karachi.
A top official of KPT told ‘The News’ that his team would come to Karachi by train from Lahore.
“The boys will be boarded in the evening tomorrow and will reach Karachi by 10am on Friday,” KPT Sports Manager Shah Naeem Zafar said.
“The dates of the semi-final are not yet clear. As our boys will reach on Friday they would need at least a couple of days rest for the semi-final,” added Shah.
“I had written in my report to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) that they could stage the semi-final either in Lahore or Multan after they had to reschedule it due to bad weather in Sialkot,” he said.
K-Electric were scheduled to arrive in Lahore by air on Thursday (today).
“Our team is coming by air tomorrow,” a K-Electric official said.
This correspondent learnt that it was after tough effort that the management of KPT and K-Electric succeeded in getting information from the PCB officials about the revised venue for the rain-hit semi-final.
“We were desperately waiting for the decision. The PCB Director Domestics Intikhab Alam was busy in a meeting and finally we were told by another official of the Board that the semi-final and final have been shifted to Karachi. And it was only after that we made a reservation for our team,” a team official said.