Rawalpindi struggle to 156 for six

Rawalpindi struggled to 156 for six in their first innings against Lahore Whites on a curtailed opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Trophy Grade I match at the LCCA Ground here on Saturday.

The match started 90 minutes late as the pitch was wet due to watering of the ground, which done two days ago. The morning dew also hampered its drying out process.

The right-arm fast-medium bowler Irfan Fazil exploited theconditions efficiently to claim four wickets for 54 runs after Lahore Whites captain Naeem Ashraf elected to field.

Rawalpindi's skipper Naseer Ahmad played a steady head to stabilise the innings with an unbeaten knock of 61. He has so far batted for 196 minutes. His 120-ball innings includes nine boundaries.

Naseer and Shahid Javed (29 with five fours) shared an invaluable partnership of 83 for the fifth wicket in 112 minutes.