Lahore Amar Cables overwhelm Lahore Shaheen

KARACHI: Lahore Amar Cables overwhelmed Lahore Shaheen at the Shah Faisal Ground, Lahore, in their Northern Zone encounter of the National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament.

The Lahore Amar Cables spin trio of Rehan Rauf (3-27), Javed Khan (2-19) and Akbar Ali (2-42) sent Lahore Shaheen tumbling to 143 all out in 28.5 overs despite opener Mohammad Arshad’s 78 off 75 balls. Opener Aamir Ilyas Butt and Zahoor Elahi remained unbeaten on 62 each to help Lahore Amar Cables reach the target of 144 in only 17.2 overs with nine wickets in hand. Fine knocks from opener Kashif Malik (55 off 45 balls), Shahid Rafiq (47 off 23 balls) and Nisar Mahmood (36 off 28 balls) enabled Sialkot Seniors to score 261 for eight off the allotted 30 overs. Medium pacer Ijaz Ali got four wickets.

Ghulam Abbas (86 off 68 balls), Mudassar Ahmed (45 off 23 balls) and Sohaib Hafeez (42 off 26) kept Sialkot Gray Seniors in the hunt but off-spinner Qalab Khan’s spell of three for 22 saw them bowled out for 232 in 29 overs.

Khalid Habib’s 101 off 74 balls lifted Lahore Totally to 214 against Lahore Chaudhary Sports, who managed to reach the target in 25.5 overs with major contributions from Agha Naved (58 off 48 balls) and Shafqat Hussain (50 off 35 balls).

Mohammad Siddiq’s unbeaten 102 off 64 balls, with support from Irfan Shah (47 off 17 balls) and Zaheer Iqbal (44 off 26 balls) helped Lahore Startanz recover to post a huge score of 280 for six off 30 overs, after they had lost three early wickets to medium pacer Faisal Iftikhar.  Abdul Karim Khan’s knock (103 off 88 balls) was not enough to drive Lahore Hannan Enterprises, who were restricted to 220 for eight.

The 123-run opening partnership between Qadeer Ahmed (74 off 41 balls) and Mohammad Shariq (56 off 60 balls) allowed Islamabad Kings to set a target of 253 for Islamabad Club Seniors, who romped home with a couple of overs to spare. The chase was led by half centuries from Salman Shah (56 off 38 balls), Naveed Qureshi (50 off 22 balls) and Talib Rizvi (50 off 49 balls).