Gold League
Karachi Urban batsmen crawled to 189 for 6 in their first innings of their second-round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship Gold League match against a tight Peshawar bowling attack at the National Stadium.
Imran Javed on 40 off 83 balls in 108 minutes with five fours and Tahir Khan with 14 were at the crease at stumps.
The match started 90 minutes late because of a wet square area. But Asif Zakir and Khurram Manzoor gave Karachi Urban a flying start of 76 runs in a little over an hour-and-a-half after Hasan Raza won the toss and decided to bat first. But their other batsmen failed to maintain the momentum after the departure of the openers. Asif went after making 35 with four fours off 70 balls and Khurram struck a six and four fours in his 47 off 108 deliveries.
Right-arm medium-fast bowler Riaz Afridi caused trouble in Karachi's innings with 3 for 65 in 21 overs and fellow left-arm fast bowler Waqar Ahmed got 2 for 40 in 18 overs. Peshawar captain Arshad Khan bowled a brilliant spell of 1 for 57 runs in a marathon 31 overs to put the brakes on the run-rate.
Pakistan's Under-19 World Cup hero Anwar Ali captured six wickets for Karachi Harbour on the opening day against Rawalpindi at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
Ali, playing in only his second first-class match, returned impeccable figures of 6 for 54 as hosts Rawalpindi were dismissed for a modest first-innings score of 175 after they were put in to bat.
Anwar's first four wickets yesterday left Rawalpindi reeling at 51 for 7, the other three wickets were picked up by Uzair-ul-Haq. Rawalpindi lost six wickets for just eight runs before a 96-run eighth-wicket stand lifted their morale. Anwar was the matchwinner in the Under-19 World Cup in Sri Lanka, when his haul of 5 for 35 led Pakistan to victory against India in the final.
Sohail Tanvir hit eight fours in his brisk 56 off 97 balls. Wicketkeeper Sajid Mahmood remained unbeaten on 42 off 166 balls. By the close of play, Karachi Harbour were themselves in some trouble at 35 for 2. They lost both wickets at the same score of 28 runs.
Former Pakistan middle-order batsman Naved Latif hammered 126, which was slightly more than Faisalabad's 250 all out, against Sialkot, here at the Jinnah Stadium on Friday.
After defending champions Sialkot asked Faisalabad to bat, their pace bowling trio had the them tottering at 47 for 5. Naved almost single-handedly took his team to 250 with his 10th first-class hundred.
Sialkot were 26 for 1 by the day's close. They had also temporarily lost their captain and main batsman Imran Nazir through an injury, although he is expected was resume batting.
Naved batted for just over three-and-a half-hours for his 126 off 162 balls and hit 16 fours and three sixes. He was helped by the tailenders, especially by fast bowler Ali Raza with whom he added 80 for the eighth wicket. Kashif Raza was Sialkot's most successful bowler, with figures of 5 for 58 in 19.2 overs. Asim Butt got 3 for 71 in 12.
Silver League
Former Pakistan allrounder Azhar Mahmood showed his form with a five-wicket haul as Islamabad gained the upper hand, on the opening day against Quetta at the Diamond Club Ground.
Mahmood, left out of Pakistan's 30 probables for the World Cup, captured 5 for 45 as Quetta were shot out for a paltry 161 in 41.1 overs after choosing to bat. Islamabad finished the day on 185 for 3 in 34.3 overs and gained a 24-run lead with seven wickets still intact.
Mahmood formed a pace trio with Rao Iftikhar and Bilal Asad which made life difficult for the Quetta batsmen. The sole exception was opener Shoaib Khan, who hit 86 with 15 fours. Nasim Khan was the next best batsman with 19. Islamabad captain Iftikhar got 2 for 40 while Asad finished with incredible figures of 2 for 2.
In the Islamabad innings, Atif Ashraf top-scored with 76 off 90 balls with 13 fours while Afaq Rahim made 47 off 55 balls with nine fours in the opening stand of 134. Asad contributed 24 while the unbeaten batsmen were Ashar Zaidi with 12 and Imad Wasim with 4. The wickets went to Naseer Khan (2-40) and Jalat Khan (1-24).
Facing a rather weak Abbottabad bowling attack, Hyderabad compiled an impressive 282 for 3 at the Niaz Stadium on Friday.
Rizwan Ahmed, who had scored a century in Hyderabad's first-round win over Lahore Ravi at the same venue, was again nearing a hundred as he finished the day on 91.
He occupied the crease for just short of four and three-quarter hours while facing 193 balls and with seven fours. With Shahid Qambrani, his unbroken fourth-wicket stand so far produced 115 runs. Shahid was unbeaten on 71 off 110 balls in two hours 21 minutes with eight fours and two sixes. With captain Faisal Athar, who made 47, Rizwan had added 107 for the third wicket.
Ali Azmat, Nasir Jamshed and Waqas Ahmad hit useful half-centuries as Lahore Ravi reached 271 for 8 against Multan on Friday at the Lahore City Cricket Association (LCCA) Ground.
Ali Azmat was unbeaten on 75 off 113 balls after opener Nasir made 61 and Waqas Ahmed added a useful 55. They helped Lahore Ravi recover from 118 for 5 to end the day on a satisfactory note. Multan's captain Saeed Anwar junior had earlier won the toss and decided to field.
Azmat steadied the innings with lower-order batsman Waqas by adding 87 runs for the seventh wicket. Azmat struck 11 fours while Waqas cracked a six and a four off 83 balls.
Multan's pace attack bowled well in spite of being without Shabbir Ahmed. Azharullah captured 4 for 41 in 18 overs. Shabbir was to play against Lahore Ravi, but he preferred rest due to a fitness problem.