Northern take control against SP

ISLAMABAD: Umar Amin (90) and Ali Sarfraz (73) helped Northern seize early initiative against Southern Punjab as the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first class matches returned to the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi.

At the close of the opening day’s play on Monday, Northern — fresh from their recent win against Sindh — reached 339-5. Openers Umar and Zeeshan Malik (45) provided a solid foundation after Northern captain Nauman Ali elected to bat.

Once, Zeeshan departed at 115, Ali joined Umar and relished on the solid start to take the total to 165 when Umar lost his wicket just 10 runs shy of a hundred.Umar struck 10 fours and four sixes in his 113-ball stay at the crease.Ali helped Northern march to 245-3 at tea with a solid half-century. The 31-year-old left-handed batsman scored 73 from 130 balls, seven of which were sent to the boundary. Batting at six, Hammad Azam was unbeaten on 48 when the day ended. The all-rounder has faced 65 balls, to date, and hit four fours and a six. He was joined by wicketkeeper-batsman Jamal Anwar (18) at the other end.

The pair has stitched an unbeaten 51-run partnership.Left-arm spinner Mohammad Irfan was the pick of Southern Punjab bowlers with 3-95 while Ziaul Haq and leg-spinner Zahid Mehmood claimed a wicket each.

Scores in brief: At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: Nor­thern 339-5 in 78 overs (Umar Amin 90, Ali Sarfraz 73, Hammad Azam 48 not out, Zeeshan Malik 45; Muhammad Irfan 3-95) v Southern Punjab.

At National Stadium, Kar­achi: Central Punjab 216-7 in 83 overs (Kamran Akmal 59, Usman Sallahuddin 50 not out, Ahmed Shehzad 48; Tabish Khan 3-66, Anwar Ali 2-27) v Sindh.

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Khyber Pakhtun­khwa 290-8 in 84 overs (Zohaib Khan 76 not out, Ashfaq Ahmed 54, Israrullah 42, Sajid Khan 29; Mohammad Asghar 5-90, Khurram Shehzad 2-64) v Balochistan.