Shakeel seals victory for NWFP

North-West Frontier Province 261 (Hameed 76, Jan 60, Arafat 5-97) and 82 for 0 (Mohmand 52*) beat Federal Areas 236 (Usman Saeed 73, Shakeel 6-72) and 103 (Shakeel 5-38) by ten wickets
Scorecard

In Peshawar, North West Frontier Province earned maximum points yet again to build a healthy lead at the top of the table after two games. After NWFP's last-wicket pair ensured a 25-run first-innings lead - they began the day trailing by six, Federal Areas lasted only 33.5 overs in their second. Rafatullah Mohmand then scored a 60-ball 52 to seal the win with a day to spare.

Wicketkeeper Zulfiqar Jan pushed from 36 to 60, and No. 11 Junaid Khan remained unbeaten on 10, to gain a 25-run first-innings lead. Jan was bowled by Yasir Arafat, who ended the innings with 5 for 97.

Federal Area's openers wiped out the deficit with a 31-run stand, but medium-pacers Junaid and Shakeel-ur-Rehman struck timely blows to set up the win. Junaid took 3 for 37 off his 12 overs, while Shakeel got his second five-for - he finished the match with 11 wickets - as Federal Areas crumbled for 103. Nauman Habib took the final wicket - NWFP used only three bowlers - with Mohammad Aamer unable to bat. In 17.4 overs, NWFP's openers chased the target of 79 to seal the deal.

Sind 260 for 4 (Manzoor 114*, Nawaz 62*, Riaz 2-29) trail Punjab 400 for 9 dec by 140 runs
Scorecard

Only 67.2 overs were possible on the third day at the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore. Sind, resuming on 43 for 1, pushed to 260 for 4 with most of the runs coming in an unbroken 149-run stand between Khurram Manzoor and Afsar Nawaz. Unless there's a tremendous flurry of wickets on the final day, or some bizarre declarations, a draw is the only possible result.

Sind are 140 behind Punjab in the first innings, and they will hope Manzoor and Nawaz help them gain a lead, which will get them three points from the game. At one stage, though, Sind were in danger of being dismissed for a low score. Wickets for left-arm medium-pacer Wahad Riaz - he's got 2 for 29 off 18 overs in the innings - and one for 16-year-old Adil Raza reduced Sind to 111 for 4. However, Manzoor scored 114, with 14 fours, to take his team safety along with Nawaz, who used up 156 balls for his 62.