Islamabad beat Hyderabad inside two days

Karachi Harbour appeared well on the way to their second successive victory as they attained a lead of 158 over Lahore Shalimar on the second day of their fourth round Quaid-e-Azam match at Lahore.

Atif Maqbool, Karachi Harbour's right-arm offbreak bowler, took 5 for 63 as Lahore Shalimar were bowled out for 179 inside 63 overs. No batsman got to 50 as Salman Butt, the Pakistan Test opener, was Lahore Shalimar's highest scorer, run out on 47. Butt partnered with Aamer Sajjad (44) and added 53 for the third wicket. Later, Junaid Zia added 34 runs off 77 balls with four fours and a six.

Earlier in the day, Karachi Harbour squandered the chance of posting a large total as they lost their last five wickets for the addition of just 37 runs, having resumed at the overnight 282 for five. The sixth-wicket stand between Fahad Iqbal and Sarfraz Ahmed ended at 129, after only two more runs were made. Iqbal failed to add to his 71 runs while Ahmed, 69 overnight, fell at 75, having faced 136 balls and hit eight fours and a six. Zia, Lahore Shalimar's right-arm medium-fast bowler, took 4 for 82.

Karachi Harbour openers made 18 in their second innings before stumps were drawn.

Defending champions Sialkot suffered a setback as they conceded a first-innings lead of 50 to table leaders Peshawar at Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

After restricting Peshawar to 200 on the first day Sialkot were bowled out for 150 with Fazl-e-Akbar, Riaz Afridi, and Jannisar Khan taking three wickets each. Sialkot were in real trouble losing six wickets for 79 before Tahir Mughal and Khalid Mahmood added 56 for the seventh wicket. But the last three batsmen managed only 15 between them.

But Peshawar again collapsed in their second innings securing an overall lead of 187 with two wickets remaining. Mughal, who took 5 for 56 in the first innings with his right-arm fast-medium bowling, continued his great form with 4 for 56 in the second as Peshawar lost their eight wickets in 35 overs.

Faisalabad collapsed to 169 for 9 in their first innings and ended the second day, shortened by bad light, 82 runs behind Rawalpindi at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Resuming at their overnight score of 239 for 8, Rawalpindi were bowled out for 251 within the first six overs of the day. Mohammad Wasim, 51 overnight, top-scored with 62 runs off 150 balls with four boundaries. Ahmed Hayat got 4 for 31. Faisalabad, currently at the bottom of the pile with no points from their previous two matches, need to lift themselves up to avoid being relegated to next season's Silver League. They had won the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title in 2003-04.

Islamabad might have a chance of promotion to next season's Gold League, as they attained their fourth consecutive victory defeating Hyderabad by nine wickets within two days of their fourth round Silver League Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium.

Hyderabad were bowled out for 106 in their first innings. Islamabad took a lead of 50 and then Hyderabad crashed to 65 all out in their second innings. Islamabad made the 16 required for the loss of one wicket.

Islamabad though began the day poorly losing their last seven wickets for 40 in the first 16 overs of the day. Farhan Ayub, Hyderabad's left-arm fast-medium bowler, took his second five-wicket haul in first-class cricket when he got his career-best of 7 for 71.

Iftikhar Anjum, with 3 for 15, and Rauf Akbar, with 5 for 49, ran through the Hyderabad batting order in 22 overs. Farhan Ayub got a match haul of 8 for 79 as Islamabad lost their opener Mohammad Kashif for a duck before Iftikhar Anjum and Mohammad Fayyaz wrapped it up in four overs.

Wasim Khan took 4 for 64 runs as Lahore Ravi forced the follow-on upon Quetta by dismissing them for 248 in the first innings at Lahore.

Quetta, replying to Lahore Ravi's first innings total of 408, failed to cope with their hostile bowling and the Quetta last pair of Mohammad Alam (34) and Gauhar Faiz (31 not out) added 63 runs but fell 10 short of the follow-on.

Arun Lal, with 92, was the only Quetta batsman who scored higher than 34. He added 59 along with Shahzad Tareen for the sixth wicket to repair the early loss which left them at 56 for 5.

Earlier, Lahore resumed at their overnight score of 331 for 6 in 85.1 overs but their last four wickets fell for 77 runs.

Ali Azmat made 126 off 172 balls while Waqas Ahmad made 33 in a 57-run seventh-wicket stand. Quetta could not start their second innings due to fading light.

Abbottabad bowled out Multan for a meagre first-innings score of 139 and had secured a lead of 147 by the end of the day at Multan. Sajid Shah, Abbottabad's right-arm fast-medium bowler took 6 for 46 and is now needs 10 more to reach 500 first-class wickets.

Multan could not extend their advantage over Abbottabad after restricting them to 237 on the first day. The only real resistance in the Multan innings came from the Bilal Khilji who made an 50 off 97 deliveries.

With 21 points from their previous three matches, Multan still appear the team most likely to meet Islamabad in the Silver League final, that's scheduled to start from February 7. But first the two teams will meet in the Silver League fifth match.