January 17, 2002	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 2, 1422

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KARACHI, Jan 16: Rest of Balochistan were making a fancied Karachi Whites sweat for victory in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I match at the National Stadium Wednesday.

The tourists, resuming on the penultimate day at 55 for two in reply to Karachi’s 557 for six declared, frustrated the home team for more than 94 overs before being dismissed for 241 at tea.

Forced to follow on, Rest of Balochistan refused to go down without a fight and finished the day’s proceedings at 62 for one off 22 overs.

Rest of Balochistan still require 254 runs to avert the ignominy of an innings defeat. But they have shown that Karachi Whites will have to play out of their skins and do something special to collect victory points on the final day Thursday.

Rest of Balochistan’s stroke-makers displayed a good back against the wall cricket. They hardly played a false shot throughout the day which made life for Karachi bowlers even more difficult.

The most impressive part of Rest of Balochistan innings was their mental toughness. Starting the day knowing that they had to play out the minimum 166 overs left in the match to save the game, they went session-by-session.

The batsmen remained watchful, patient and defiant, and tactfully handled all the tricks applied on them by Karachi bowlers. Bad balls were forcefully punished, but good ones were nicely played and deliveries away from the three sticks were not disturbed.

These are excellent signs and confirms the fact that cricket was being flourished and promoted in every nook and corner of the country. All these players needed was exposure, facility and opportunity which the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has provided.

Rest of Balochistan’s Mian Nafees was outstanding when he scored 81 off 187 balls after little under four hours of batting. He hit eight fours and a six.

Left-handed Mohtashim Ali frustrated Karachi for 138 minutes while scoring 40 whereas Azizullah occupied the crease for his 35.

Karachi paceman Tanvir Ahmed bowled his heart out and was rewarded with five for 67. He was the only bowler who looked to trouble Rest of Balochistan while rest of the bowlers lacked bite and ability to run through the innings.

Tanvir is having a good tournament. He has picked 17 wickets in three matches. He seems to be an exciting prospect and can develop into a good bowler if professionally handled and taken care of.

Scoreboard

KARACHI WHITES (1st Innings) 557-6 declared (Hasan Raza 256, Imran Javed 125 not out, Ariz Kamal 119).

REST OF BALOCHISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 55-2):

Sabir Hussain lbw b Tanvir 0

Manzoor Ahmed c Imran b Imranullah 14

Azizullah Khan b Tanvir 35

Mohtashim Ali c Adnan b Tanvir 40

Nasim Khan c Moin b Tanvir 0

Mian Nafees c Hasan b Tabish 81

Naseer Khan c Tanvir b Adnan 28

Sanaullah Khan lbw b Adnan 0

Arun Lal lbw b Tanvir 9

Waqas Chughtai c Imranullah b Adnan 5

Faisal Irfan not out 12

EXTRAS (B-7, LB-7, NB-3) 17

TOTAL (all out, 94.2 overs) 241

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-26, 3-75, 4-75, 5-125, 6-164, 7-164, 8-192, 9-205.

BOWLING: Tanvir Ahmed 22-7-67-5; Imranullah 15-6-31-1; Imran Javed 9-2-21-0; Adnan Malik 25-9-48-3; Tabish Nawab

23.2-7-60-1.

REST OF BALOCHISTAN (2nd Innings):

Manzoor Ahmed not out 21

Sabir Husain lbw b Imranullah 37

Azizullah Khan not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-2) 2

TOTAL (for one wkt, 22 overs) 62

FALL OF WKT: 1-56.

BOWLING (to-date): Tanvir Ahmed

7-1-29-0; Imranullah 9-2-26-1; Adnan Malik 6-4-5-0.