Rohail, Hammad lift Northern in QAT

ISLAMABAD: National under-19 team captain Rohail Nazir (67) and Hammad Azam (58) hit fifties to lead Northern Association to a respectable total in rain marred Quaid-i-Azam Trophy First Class match against Sindh at the KRL Ground.

The overnight and early Sunday morning rain again resulted in delayed start on the second day with Northern taking their score from overnight 86 for 3 to 271 for 9 at the close of second day’s play. Had it not been to decent contributions from Rohail and Hammad, things would have been much different for the hosts. Rohail knock that held Northern innings together was studded with 12 boundaries. He consumed 120-deliveries to reach 67. Hammad struck two sixes and five fours during his 117-ball stay at the wicket. Umar Waheed (35) could not convert his innings into a fifty and was trapped in front by Mir Hamza (1-71) for his only wicket.

Scores: Northern Association 271 for 9 in 101.4 overs (Rohail Nazir 67, Hammad Azam 58, Umer Waheed 35, Haider Ali 26, Afaq Rahim 19, Kashif Bhatti 3-51, Sohail Khan 2-60, Tabish Khan 2-70) vs Sindh.

At Abbottabad Ground rains continued to have the last laugh in Abbottabad where only 15.1 overs play was possible on day two of fixture between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab. After 32.5 overs’ play was possible on Saturday, 176 overs of cricket have been lost between second-placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and fourth-placed South Punjab to date, while weather forecast for the remaining two days is also not very encouraging. On Sunday, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa moved from 126 for no wicket to 174 for the loss of Sahibzada Farhan, who fell to Bilawal Bhatti after adding 15 runs to his overnight score of 63.

However, Israrullah progressed from 52 not out to 77 not out, while Ashfaq Ahmed was the other batsman at the crease on seven.

Scores: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 176-1, 48 overs (Israrullah 77 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 78, Ashfaq Ahmed 7*)

At Quetta’s Bugti Stadium, Central Punjab were in firm control of their round three four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture against Balochistan.

The hosts were left struggling at 119 for five at the close of the second day’s play after putting up 521 for six declared. The visitors’ daunting first innings score came on the back of a fantastic double-century by Salman Butt – who scored 237 runs off 376 balls, adding 85 runs to his overnight score. The left-handed opening batsman struck 35 fours in his 549-minute stay at the crease.

From the other end, Zafar Gohar registered his maiden first-class century, scoring an unbeaten 138-ball 100, studded with 14 fours and three sixes. The two resumed the day for Central Punjab at 338 for five and knitted a 205-run stand, helping their side to bag all five batting points by surpassing the 400-run mark inside 110 overs. For removing five wickets till that stage, Balochistan bagged only one point. Blochistan failed to put up a strong fight from the onset of their reply as Azeem Ghumman, the centurion of the previous match, fell early.

Scvores: Central Punjab 521-6 decl in 122.2 overs (Salman Butt 237, Azhar Ali 123, Zafar Gohar 100, Kamran Akmal 24, Yasir Shah 3-163). Balochistan 119-5 in 46 overs (Imran Butt 33; Nasim Shah 2-22)