Ali Husain sets pace in final with sparkling century

Fine century by opener Ali Husain (102) and quickfire 59 from lower order batsman Salim Mughal helped Sui Gas to muster 285 against PPWD on first day of their four-day Patron's Trophy Grade-II final at the LCCA ground on Wednesday.

When the stumps were drawn for the day, PPWD, in their first innings, were five for one after having lost opener Zahid Ghauri (1) who was castled by paceman Ahmad Hayat in the last over the day.

Ali Husain batted with authority and laid the foundation of an imposing first innings score. His 272-minute innings was laced with 15 boundaries and a six. He faced 174 balls.

Together with fellow-opener Mohammad Hafeez (32, four fours), Ali put on 104 runs in 134 minutes.

After Hafeez and Fareed Asad were shown the way to the dressing room in quick succession by leg-spinner Manzoor Ahmad, Ali found another dependable ally in Sohail Idrees (49) with home the centurion added 66 useful runs in 73 minutes.

However, a middle-order collapse saw Sui Gas slump from 170 for two to 194 for five before Salim held the innings togterh wtih a punishing 59. His 73-ball innings was spiced with six boundaries and two sixes.

He added 56 priceless runs for the sixth wicket with Kashif Nizami was contributed just 20 before being run-out.

Leg-spin duo of Faheem Ahmad and Manzoor Ahmad equally shared six wickets between them conceidng 42 and 69 runs respectively. Offspinner Imran Khan took two wickets for 101 runs.