Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019/20 round six, day two recap

Central Punjab vs Northern:

Central Punjab spinners Zafar Gohar and Bilal Asif shared seven wickets between them to help their team gain a vital 35-run first innings lead over Northern on day-two of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy four-day first-class match at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Tuesday.

Resuming at the overnight score of 47 for one, Northern were reduced to 134 for six in their first innings till the lunch break.

Bilal and Zafar made good use of the Iqbal Stadium pitch to make regular breakthroughs. Hammad Azam (52 off 101 balls, two fours, two sixes) was the only batsman to offer some sustained resistance against the host bowling attack. 

Umar Amin scored 42 off 85 balls with the help of six fours; wicketkeeper Jamal Anwar contributed 36 runs off 106 balls. 

Northern were bowled out before tea for 191 runs in their first innings, conceding a 35-run lead.

Left-arm-spinner Zafar finished with four wickets for 54 runs in 25.1 overs, while off-spinner Bilal took three for 57. Aizaz Cheema took care of the other two. 

By close of play, Central Punjab reached 137 for the loss of two wickets in their second innings to take their overall lead to 172 runs.

Opener Rizwan Hussain was batting on 69 and Umar Akmal was unbeaten on 53 when stumps were drawn for the day.

Southern Punjab vs Balochistan:

Southern Punjab continued their domination over Balochistan on day two of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy sixth-round fixture at Quetta’s Bugti Stadium by setting up a mammoth first innings score of 502 all-out in 129.3 after resuming their innings on 296 for one. 

Sami Aslam added 19 runs to his score before he was dismissed on 168. 

Adnan Akmal, batting at six, cracked 11 fours and a six in his 86-ball stay at the crease, helping the batting side to cross the 400-run mark in 110 overs and gain maximum batting points (5). 

With 41 from 50 balls, Abdul Rehman Muzamil, who batted at number four, was the other notable run-getter in the innings. 

The bulk of the Southern Punjab’s wickets were shared between Mohammad Asghar and Amad Butt. Asghar, the left-arm spinner, recorded his seventh five-wicket haul in the format with five for 130 in 31.3 overs. Right-arm medium-fast Amad took four wickets for 103 runs in 24 overs. 

 In their reply, Balochistan were 37 for one in 12.4 overs when stumps were drawn. 

Azeem Ghumman and Imran Butt were still at the crease at the close of the play.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Sindh:

Sindh were 147 for three in reply of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 288 all-out on day two of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium.

Omair Bin Yousaf scored a solid 56 and stitched a 51-run partnership for the first-wicket with Khurram Manzoor (19). 

Omair’s 75-ball stay at the wicket was laced with 10 fours before he was removed by left-arm fast-bowler Junaid Khan, who took two wickets for 49 runs in eight overs. 

Junaid’s second scalp was middle-order batsman Saad Ali who was bowled on first ball. 

Left-handed batsmen Saud Shakeel and Fawad Alam were still at the crease on 35 and 29 runs respectively when stumps were drawn. 

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa added 63 runs to their overnight score before they were all-out on 288. 

Resuming his innings at 33, wicketkeeper-batsman Rehan Afridi scored an unbeaten 57, hitting 11 fours. 

Right-arm fast-bowler Sohail Khan picked up two more wickets on Tuesday to return four for 62 in 24 overs and helped Sindh bag maximum bowling points (3) for taking nine or more wickets in the 110-over cut-off.