Wahab Riaz takes six on seamers' day
A round-up of the first day of the tenth round of matches in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, Division One 2011-12
ESPNcricinfo staff
08-Dec-2011
Seventeen wickets fell, all to seamers, on a manic first day at the Gohati Cricket Stadium in Swabi that ended with Sialkot on 77 for 7 in response to Abbotabad's 97. Seamer Mohammad Imran took 6 for 34 as Abbottabad were bowled out for 97. They were 55 for 7 before a few lower order contributions took them close to three figures. Sialkot would have been satisfied after choosing to field, but their batsmen then suffered a similar plight, as Abbottabad's new-ball pair of Ahmed Jamal and Ikramullah Khan took seven wickets between them.
Left-arm quick Wahab Riaz picked up six wickets as Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited reached 239 for 7 against National Bank of Pakistan at the Lahore City Cricket Association Ground. Riaz struck early blows to reduce ZTBL to 73 for 6 but half-centuries from Yasir Hameed and Haris Sohail helped them make a recovery. Riaz continued to pick up wickets, and three fell in a cluster at the end of the day leaving the match evenly poised.
Islamabad ended with the advantage after 18 wickets fell on the first day of their match against Faisalabad at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. The hosts were skittled for 169 but their new-ball pair of Nasrullah Khan and Fakhar Hussain left Faisalabad reeling at 92 for 8 by stumps. Islamabad had been reduced to 119 for 9 before Zohaib Ahmed's 63 and his 50-run last-wicket stand with Nasrullah Khan got them to 169. The seamers did the damage for Faisalabad with Abdur Rauf and Waqas Maqsood taking three wickets apiece and Naseer Akram picking up four.
State Bank of Pakistan shot out Pakistan International Airlines for 137 at the National Ground in Islamabad, and then made a positive start to their response. Kashif Siddiq scored 43 not out to take State Bank to 77 for 2, leaving them 60 runs behind with eight wickets still remaining. PIA slumped to 53 for 4 after being put in, two of those wickets falling by virtue of run-outs. Fahad Iqbal steadied the innings with his 45 but seamer Rizwan Haider and left-arm spinner Hasan Mahmood took three wickets each to get rid of the lower order quickly.
A late collapse negated half-centuries from Ahmed Shehzad and Aftab Alam, and Habib Bank Limited reached 241 for 8 after they were put in by Water and Power Development Authority at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Shehzad's 59 helped Habib Bank get off to a solid start before seamer Imran Khan and left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar began to make inroads. Alam scored 63 but Habib Bank slipped from 184 for 3 to 238 for 8. Babar finished with 4 for 91 from 26 overs.
Ahmed Iqbal and Yasir Mushtaq scored half-centuries to help Karachi Blues recover from 68 for 4 to 211 for 5 against Rawalpindi at the National Stadium, Karachi. Iqbal got 54 not out off 179 balls and Mushtaq scored 82 off 141 to take Karachi out of a sticky situation after they had elected to bat.