KARACHI: Nauman Ali took four wickets to lead Northern to their first win in the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as Sindh were bowled out for 199 runs in their second innings to suffer a heavy 145-run defeat on an exciting fourth and final day’s play of the seventh round match at the National Stadium in Karachi on Thursday, says a PCB press release.
Set a difficult victory target of 345 runs, Sindh were bowled out in the final session to remain winless in the competition as Nauman finished with 4-51 to follow-up on his first innings haul of 5-58.
The Northern skipper and left-arm-spinner finished with match figures of 9-109 as only Khurram Manzoor (35), Anwar Ali (32), Rameez Aziz (15) and Sohail Khan (54 from 60 balls) offered resistance on a wearing yet good batting track on the final day.
Sindh were in trouble soon after Northern declared their second innings at 262-4 and invited Sindh to either win or save the match. Overnight Northern batsman, Zeeshan Malik fell without adding to his score of 96 to Mir Hamza while his partner, Faizan Riaz was also out for 41. Hammad Azam (39 from 24 balls) and Noman (32 from 15 balls) then added rapid runs to hasten the declaration.
In the Sindh innings, Shehzar Muhammad who scored 74 in the first innings was the first to go trapped leg before by Waqar with a sharp inswinger and Saad Ali followed him when he played on to left armer, Sadaf Hussain. All-rounder, Hammad struck two telling blows after lunch to leave Sindh tottering on 70-4.
He first bowled skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed (16) with one that came in and then forced first innings centurion Fawad Alam to try to cut a ball too close to his body to be caught behind.
Sindh suffered their fifth blow when Nauman on his first ball trapped Khurram leg-before as he tried to play an expansive sweep shot.
Anwar Ali and Rameez tried to steady the innings with a dour sixth wicket partnership of 34 runs which was broken at the stroke of tea when Nauman again beat the latter with a clever arm ball and trapped him leg before to leave Sindh 126-6 at tea.
The situation only turned worse for the home side after tea when Anwar was stumped by Jamal Anwar off the bowling of Nauman who also had Hassan Khan (11) caught at first slip while Salman Irshad trapped Tabish Khan leg before. Sohail was last man out caught at slip off Faizan Riaz.
In the first innings, Northern collected five batting and three bowling points. Sindh got three bowling and as many batting points.
Scores in brief: Northern 408 all out, 93.2 overs (Faizan Riaz 211, Ali Sarfaraz 60, Hammad Azam 59; Sohail Khan 3-89, Mir Hamza 3-92) and 262-4 decl, 53 overs (Zeeshan Malik 96, Faizan Riaz 41; Mir Hamza 2-72). Sindh 326, all out 105.5 overs (Fawad Alam 107, Shahzar Mohammad 74, Anwar Ali 69; Nauman Ali 5-58, Sadaf Hussain 2-50) and 199 all out, 55.5 overs (Sohail Khan 54, Khurram Manzoor 35, Anwar Ali 32; Nauman Ali 4-51, Hammad Azam 2-18). Result: Northern win by 145 runs.
At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: Balochistan 450 all-out, 124.1 overs (Imran Butt 137, Imran Farhat 87, Azeem Ghumman 72, Awais Zia 44, Taimur Khan 37, Hussain Talat 24; Aizaz Cheema 5-100, Mohammad Ali 3-72). Central Punjab 324-9, 93.1 overs (Usman Salahuddin 94, Umar Akmal 78, Salman Butt 47, Zafar Gohar 39; Mohammad Asghar 3-109, Imran Farhat 2-16).
At Abbottabad Stadium: Southern Punjab 338 all-out, 100.3 overs (Umar Siddiq 88, Sohaib Maqsood 57, Salman Ali Agha 45, Sami Aslam 38, Zeeshan Ashraf 25; Ahmed Jamal 6-93, Junaid Khan 2-89) and 337-5 decl (Sami Aslam 150 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Sohaib Maqsood 38, Agha Salman Ali 24 not out; Irfanullah Khan 3-33). Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 417-5 decl, 113 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 143, Rehan Afridi 84 not out, Zohaib Khan 63 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 47, Adil Amin 37, Fakhar Zaman 23; Umaid Asif 3-142). Result: Match drawn.