Karachi Harbour gain lead over Peshawar

Half-centuries from Hasan Raza, Amin-ur-Rehman, Agha Sabir and Asif Zakir helped Karachi Urban gain a massive 200 runs first-innings lead over Lahore Shalimar, on day two of their third round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Having bowled out Lahore Shalimar for 176 and then added 50 0f their own on the first day, Karachi Urban openers Sabir and Khurram Manzoor gave their side a steady start on the second morning with 45 in a little over two and a half hours. Sabir struck 10 fours in his 67 off 165 balls.

Zakir came in at No.3 and scored 53 off 131 balls with seven fours, in just under three hours at the crease.

At stumps Raza was batting on 80 while wicketkeeper Rehman was caught by Aamer Sajjad off Salman Butt from the last ball of the day after playing an enterprising knock of 79, including a run-a-ball fifty. The two added 119 for the sixth wicket.

Butt, the Lahore Shalimar captain, who is also a part-time off-spinner, was pick of his team's bowling attack with 2 for 24 in nine overs while Arsalan Mir took 2 for 55 in 16 overs.

Karachi Harbour, at the bottom of the Gold League points table, gave themselves a big boost as they gained a first-innings lead over leaders Peshawar in their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

Only 17 overs were bowled on the first day on account of bad weather and Peshawar, resuming at their overnight score of 43 for 3, were dismissed for a rather poor 133 in their first innings. Karachi Harbour replied with a score of 149 for four.

Karachi Harbour, who now have a lead of 16 with six wickets in hand, were lifted by their captain Naumanullah's 80 off 91 balls with 14 fours in two hours 53 minutes. With opener Khalid Latif (39), he added 109 for the second wicket.

Wajahatullah Wasti, the former Pakistan player, was the only Peshawar batsman who displayed some resistance making 68. No other Peshawar batsman got to even 20 - the last three not scoring at all.

Uzair-ul-Haq, Karachi Harbour's right-arm medium-fast bowler, got 4 for 37 while Atif Maqbool, a right-arm offbreak bowler, got 3 for 17. For Peshawar, Riaz Afridi picked up 3 for 42.

Sohail Tanvir made his maiden first-class hundred and Usman Saeed compiled a vigilant 88 to steer Rawalpindi to a healthy first-innings score of 324 against Sialkot at Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

The seventh-wicket pair of Tanvir and Saeed came together and added 150 when Rawalpindi had slipped to 105 for 6 after resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 47 for 4. Tanvir hit 11 fours and two sixes in his 173-ball 124.

Kashif Raza, a right-arm medium bowler, got his 12th five-wicket haul in first-class cricket conceding 62 runs while Asim Butt got 3 for 132.

Sialkot, who are the defending champions of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, finished the day on 27 for 2 in the remaining 6.1 overs.

Kashif Naved missed out on his maiden first-class double-century when he was run out on 199, as Multan, leading the Silver League points table, reached a first-innings score of 422 against Hyderabad, at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

By the end of the day, Hyderabad too had replied adequately, making 201 though losing five wickets in their first innings. They need another 72 runs to avoid a follow-on.

Naved was on 114 overnight and had added 124 along with wicketkeeper Atiq Ahmed. He had batted close to six and three quarters of an hour and faced 286 deliveries hitting 28 fours. Ahmed's 50 came off 95 balls with seven fours.For Hyderabad, Farhan Ayub, a left-arm medium-fast bowler, picked up 5 for 111.

Then Hanif-ur-Rehman, with 85, and Faisal Athar, with 69, added 139 and their second wicket partnership was broken by Abdul Rauf, Multan's fast-medium bowler, who bagged a total of 4 for 52.

Islamabad took a first-innings lead of 34 against Lahore Ravi with ease as Azhar Mahmood, the former Pakistan medium-pace bowler, finished off with 5 for 33 in their match at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground.

Mahmood had dismissed the Lahore Ravi openers on the first day as only 32 overs were bowled due to bad weather. He took three more on day two as Lahore Ravi were bowled out for 138 inside 64 overs. Ali Azmat was left unbeaten as the side's top-scorer on 35.

By the end of the day, Islamabad were at 172 for 3 with Mahmood on 28.

Afaq Rahim and Bilal Asad had earlier added 102 for the second wicket for Islamabad. Bilal batted just short of two hours making 62 runs off 90 balls with seven fours while Afaq's contribution was 38 off 88 balls with four boundaries.

Islamabad have picked up the full 18 points from their first two matches. Multan have the same tally but they are ahead of Islamabad on the Silver League table because of a better net run-rate.

Abbottabad piled up 363 for the loss of six wickets in their first innings of their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Cricket Championship match against Quetta, at the Khan Research Laboratory Ground in Rawalpindi.

Mohammad Bilal made 69 while Wajid Ali (70) and Riaz Kail (42) added 121 for the unbroken seventh-wicket partnership. Earlier, the third-wicket stand between Sajid Rasheed (35) and Adnan Raees (41) was worth 71 after which Raees was joined by Bilal as the two made 72 for the fourth wicket.

Faisal Irfan, the Quetta captain and fast-medium bowler, got 2 for 63 while off-spinner Naseer Khan got 2 for 76.