October 9, 2002	Wednesday	Sha’aban 2, 1423

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KARACHI, Oct 8: Karachi Greens and Gujranwala qualified for the final of the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-II Cricket Championship Tuesday.

Karachi Greens went through by virtue of taking first innings lead in their drawn semifinal against Sibi here at PCB Regional Academy Ground.

While in the other semifinal, Gujranwala scored a narrow four-wicket victory over Azad and Jammu Kashmir at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala.

Karachi Greens, who began the third and final day at 184 for five, declared their second innings at 375 for eight with all-rounder Akbar Rehman remaining 112 not out.

Akbar and Owais Ahmed, who was batting on 32 overnight, shared a seventh-wicket partnership of 152 before the latter was run out for 95.

Sibi escaped an outright defeat by reaching 226 for seven after being a massive target of 485. Saindad Khan, who was promoted to open the innings, scored an undefeated 102.

Gujranwala, meanwhile, made hard work of their target of 177, when they lost their side for 63 having resumed at the overnight score of 25 for two.

But the sixth-wicket pair of Idrees Ahmed and Bilal Azmat then came together to add 76 crucial runs. Bilal, who made 55 in the first innings, departed for 56. However, Idrees carried his team to victory by making exactly 50.

Medium-pacer Mir Usman was AJK’s most successful bowler with figures of four for 69 but his efforts proved futile in the end.

Summarised scores:

*At PCB Regional Academy Ground, Karachi:

MATCH DRAWN.

KARACHI GREENS 317 in 77.1 overs (Shaharyar Farrukh 119, Owais Ahmed 49, Akbar Rehman 33; Talat Khan 6-89, Saindad Khan 3-49) and 375-8 declared (Akbar Rehman 112 not out, Owais Ahmed 95, Fahad Iqbal 55; Talat Khan 4-118);

SIBI 208 in 45.5 overs (Adnan Ghani 47; Israr Ahmed 3-44) and 226-7 (Saindad Khan 102 not out, Mohammad Bux 30, Talat Khan 30; Asad Butt 3-26).

*At Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala:

Gujranwala beat Azad Jammu and Kashmir by four wickets.

AZAD JAMMU & KASHMIR 267 in 61.3 overs (Afaq Raheem 147; Ali Imran 5-55) and 132 (Sohrab Aslam 53 not out; Ali Imran 3-19);

GUJRANWALA 223 in 69.3 overs (Aamir Gulzar 97, Bilal Azmat 55; Afaq Raheem 5-22, Abdul Shakoor 3-80) and 177-6 ((Bilal Azmat 56, Idrees Ahmed 50 not out, Aamir Gulzar 31; Mir Usman 4-69).