QeA Trophy 2019/20 Day two, stubborn Fawad resists Northern

Day two of the seventh round of QeA Trophy 2019/20 wrapped up at different venues of the country. 

Central Punjab vs Balochistan:

Imran Butt’s eighth first-class century and two early wickets by Taj Wali and Mohammad Asghar put Balochistan ahead of Central Punjab on day two of their four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy seventh-round fixture at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Balochistan scored a mammoth 450 all-out on the back of Butt’s 137 and reduced the hosts to 28 for two before the play had to be called-off due to fading light. 

Twenty-three-year-old Butt, resuming his innings on 77 continued his impressive form and cracked his second 100-plus score in the tournament.

He knitted a solid 167-run partnership for the third-wicket with Balochistan’s captain Imran Farhat who scored 87 off 155 balls before he was removed by Aizaz Cheema, who returned his 37th five-fer in first-class cricket.

The 40-year-old right-arm medium-fast took five wickets for 100 runs in 31.1 overs, providing crucial breakthroughs to hosts over the course of his spells.

For crossing the 400-run mark in 110 overs, Balochistan bagged maximum (5) batting points, while Central Punjab took two points for removing six or more batsmen. 

Only eight overs were possible in Central Punjab’s innings and Taj (2-0-5-1) and Asghar (2-0-7-1) made the most of the twilight hours by picking up the wickets of opener Rizwan Hussain (six) and night-watchman Ehsan Adil (seven).

Salman Butt (15) and Central Punjab captain Ahmed Shehzad (0) will resume the innings for the hosts on Wednesday.

Sindh vs Northern:

Fawad Alam produced another obdurate innings to keep Sindh afloat on day-two of their seventh-round Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first-class match against Northern at the National Stadium on Tuesday. 

Fawad reached his 60th first class half-century and was unbeaten on 75 at close with Sindh on 247 for five in response to Northern’s first innings total of 408 runs. Umpires called stumps due to bad light with eight overs remaining in the day.

All-rounder, Anwar Ali also played judiciously for his undefeated 41 runs from 71 balls figuring in an important 75 runs partnership with Fawad for the sixth wicket.

Sindh were in trouble early on after Northern were dismissed quickly after resuming on 396 for eight with Tabish Khan and Hassan Khan picking up one wicket each.

Northern’s left arm pacer, Sadaf Hussain dismissed Khurram Manzoor (3) and Rameez Aziz (0) having them caught behind to rock Sindh but opener, Shehzar Muhammad (74 from 128 balls) stood firm and steadied the innings with Saad Ali (23).

Sadaf a long-serving bowler in domestic cricket also completed his 400 first class wickets when he had Rameez caught behind. Saad unfortunately was run out when a direct throw from Hammad Azam fielding at square leg caught him inches out of the crease at the non-striker’s end.

Sindh by this stage had slumped to 65 for three as Shehzar and Fawad started to rebuild the innings but just before tea Northern skipper and left arm spinner, Nauman Ali struck a telling blow when he trapped Shehzar leg before.

At tea Sindh had slumped to 128 for four but on resumption, Fawad found an able partner in his skipper, Sarfaraz Ahmed as both played some attacking shots.

Sindh suffered a setback just as they appeared to be in a safe position when Sarfaraz pounced upon a short ball from Nauman only to be caught at short mid-wicket by Shoaib Ahmed Minhas.

The Sindh skipper fell for 22 runs after which Fawad found a steady partner in Anwar who lived a charmed life but displayed grit to hit five fours and a six.

Southern Punjab vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:

Ashfaq Ahmed’s unbeaten 81 helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 160 for two on day two of their four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match against Southern Punjab at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium before play had to be called-off early due to bad light.

The right-handed batsman cracked his third half-century of the tournament and stitched a crucial 73-run partnership for the second-wicket with Sahibzada Farhan (47 off 97) to provide Khyber Pakhtunkhwa a solid foundation after they had lost their first wicket with just eight runs on the board.

Ashfaq was joined by Adil Amin (21) at the other end when stumps were drawn. The pair has, so far, put 79 runs together for the third-wicket.

Earlier, Southern Punjab added 95 runs to their overnight score before they were all-out for 338 in 100.3 overs.

Middle-order batsman Sohaib Maqsood, resuming his innings at 38, scored his 25th half-century in first-class cricket. The right-handed batsman scored 57 off 88 balls, hitting nine fours.

His overnight partner Salman Ali Agha added 43 more runs to his score before falling five runs short of a half-century. Salman struck seven fours in his 60-ball stay at the crease.

Ahmed Jamal, the right-arm medium-fast bowler, continued to spearhead Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s bowling attack and took another three wickets on Tuesday to return six for 93.