QeA Trophy 2019/20: Northern get first win of the season

Round seven of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019/20 concluded with Northern managing to pull off their first win of the season against Sindh while Balochistan against Central Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa against Southern Punjab ended in draws.

Northern vs Sindh:

Nauman Ali took four wickets to lead Northern to their first win in the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as Sindh were bowled out for 199 runs in their second innings to suffer a heavy 145-run defeat on an exciting fourth and final day’s play of the seventh round match played at the National Stadium, Karachi on Thursday.

Set a difficult victory target of 345 runs, Sindh were bowled out in the final session and remain winless in the competition as Nauman finished with four for 51 to follow-up on his first innings haul of five for 58. 

The Northern skipper and left-arm-spinner finished with match figures of nine for 109 as only Khurram Manzoor (35), Anwar Ali (32), Rameez Aziz (15) and Sohail Khan (54 from 60 balls) offered resistance on a wearing yet good batting track on the final day.

Sindh were in trouble soon after Northern declared their second innings at 262 for four and invited Sindh to either win or save the match. Overnight Northern batsman, Zeeshan Malik fell without adding to his score of 96 to Mir Hamza while his partner, Faizan Riaz was also out for 41.

Hammad Azam (39 from 24 balls) and Noman (32 from 15 balls) then added rapid runs to hasten the declaration.

In the Sindh innings, Shehzar Muhammad who scored 74 in the first innings was the first to go trapped leg before by Waqar with a sharp inswinger and Saad Ali followed him when he played on to left armer, Sadaf Hussain.

All-rounder, Hammad Azam struck two telling blows after lunch to leave Sindh tottering on 70 for four.

He first bowled skipper, Sarfaraz Ahmed (16) then forced first innings centurion, Fawad Alam to try to cut a ball too close to his body to be caught behind.

Sindh suffered their fifth blow when Nauman on his first ball trapped Khurram leg-before as he tried to play an expansive sweep shot.

Anwar Ali and Rameez tried to steady the innings with a dour sixth wicket partnership of 34 runs which was broken at the stroke of tea when Nauman again beat the latter with a clever arm ball and trapped him leg before to leave Sindh 126 for six at tea.

The situation only turned worse for the home side after tea when Anwar was stumped by Jamal Anwar off the bowling of Nauman who also had Hassan Khan (11) caught at first slip while Salman Irshad trapped Tabish Khan leg before. Sohail was last man out caught at slip off Faizan Riaz.

Scores in brief: 

Northern 408, all out 93.2 overs (Faizan Riaz 211, Ali Sarfaraz 60, Hammad Azam 59; Sohail Khan 3-89, Mir Hamza 3-92) and 262 for 4 declared, 53 overs (Zeeshan Malik 96, Faizan Riaz 41; Mir Hamza 2-72)

Sindh 326, all out 105.5 overs (Fawad Alam 107, Shahzar Mohammad 74, Anwar Ali 69; Nauman Ali 5-58, Sadaf Hussain 2-50) and 199, all out 55.5 overs (Sohail Khan 54, Khurram Manzoor 35, Anwar Ali 32; Nauman Ali 4-51, Hammad Azam 2-18)

Balochistan vs Central Punjab:

Bad light allowed only 26.3 overs on the final day of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy seventh-round fixture between Central Punjab and Balochistan as the contest at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium ended in a draw.

Central Punjab were 324 for nine in 93.1 overs - in reply of Balochistan’s 450 all-out - when stumps were drawn. 

Middle-order batsman Usman Salahuddin, who resumed his innings on 74 on Thursday, fell six runs short of recording his first century of the tournament. 

The 28-year-old faced 177 balls – dispatching 11 of them for fours – before he was trapped LBW by Imran Farhat, the only bowler to take wickets on day four.

The Balochistan captain took two wickets for 16 runs in eight overs.

Usman’s overnight partner Zafar Gohar added 31 runs to his tally before getting caught and bowled. Waqas Maqsood (16) was the third wicket to fall as he was run out by Umar Gul.

In the eighth round of the tournament, which commences from 18 November, Central Punjab will be hosted by Sindh at the National Stadium, Karachi. Balochistan will play Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at Karachi’s UBL Sports Complex. 

Scores in brief :

Balochistan 450 all-out, 124.1 overs (Imran Butt 137, Imran Farhat 87, Azeem Ghumman 72, Awais Zia 44, Taimur Khan 37, Hussain Talat 24; Aizaz Cheema 5-100, Mohammad Ali 3-72) 

Central Punjab 324-9, 93.1 overs (Usman Salahuddin 94, Umar Akmal 78, Salman Butt 47, Zafar Gohar 39; Mohammad Asghar 3-109, Imran Farhat 2-16)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Southern Punjab:

Sami Aslam of Southern Punjab strengthened his position at the top of the run-getters list with another sublime century as his side’s four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fizzled into a draw in Abbottabad on Thursday.

The left-handed opener remained unbeaten on 150, his fourth century of the season, that took him to 833 runs in seven matches.

Sami’s 324-minute innings allowed Southern Punjab to finish their second innings at 337 for five, after they had conceded a 79-run first innings lead. 

Sami’s 254-ball innings was studded with 15 fours and a six, and he added 165 runs for the second-wicket with Zeeshan Ashraf who was unlucky to miss his century by six runs. Zeeshan was ruthless in his 112-ball innings, clubbing nine fours and six sixes.

For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, fast bowler Irfanullah Shah took three wickets for 33 runs.

Meanwhile, due to unexpected weather conditions in Abbottabad and to ensure maximum cricket is played, the PCB’s domestic cricket department has decided to shift Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s eighth round match against Balochistan to the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi. The match will start on Monday, 18 November with the same match officials named earlier.

Scores in brief:

Southern Punjab 338 all-out, 100.3 overs (Umar Siddiq 88, Sohaib Maqsood 57, Salman Ali Agha 45, Sami Aslam 38, Zeeshan Ashraf 25; Ahmed Jamal 6-93, Junaid Khan 2-89) and 337-5d (Sami Aslam 150 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Sohaib Maqsood 38, Agha Salman Ali 24 not out; Irfanullah Khan 3-33)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 417-5d, 113 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 143, Rehan Afridi 84 not out, Zohaib Khan 63 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 47, Adil Amin 37, Fakhar Zaman 23; Umaid Asif 3-142)