22 September 2004	Wednesday	06 Shaban 1425

SHEIKHUPURA, Sept 21: Ashar Zaidi mauled the touring Zimbabwe attack with a brilliant undefeated double century as the PCB Chairman's XI drew the two-day game here on Tuesday.

Ashar made 202, hitting 29 boundaries and a six during his 387-minute innings, as the hosts accumulated 398-2 in their allotted 90 overs, in reply to Zimbabwe's 215 all out on the first day.

The 23-year-old left-handed opener put on 158 for the opening wicket with Asif Zakir, who scored 61, as the inexperienced Zimbabwe bowlers toiled hard to get a breakthrough.

Ashar, who hit 493 runs in just six first-class games last season, added 117 for the second wicket with Shahid Yousuf (36) and another 123 for the third wicket with Test discard Faisal Iqbal, who made 86 not out.

Alexandar Graeme Cremer took both wickets for the tourists. Ashar was delighted with his efforts. "I was positive right from the word go and now am hopeful that my innings will push my career forward," he said.

Each side was restricted to a maximum 90 overs in the first innings. There was no over limit for the second innings but the teams ran out of time. Zimbabwe chose not to bat out the remaining 40 minutes of the final day.

Zimbabwe now take on PCB Patron XI in a four-day game in Lahore from Friday. They meet Pakistan in the opening match of the tri-series, also involving Sri Lanka, in Multan on Sept 30.

SCOREBOARD

ZIMBABWE 215 (E. Chigumbura 81; Mohammad Irshad 4-56).

PCB CHAIRMAN'S XI (overnight 62-0):

Ashar Zaidi not out 202

Asif Zakir c Matskenyeri b Cremer 61

Shahid Yousuf st Taibu b Cremer 36

Faisal Iqbal not out 86

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-8, W-3, NB-1) 13

TOTAL (for two wkts, 90 overs) 398

FALL OF WKTS: 1-158, 2-224.

DID NOT BAT: Hasan Raza, Salman Qadir, Zulqarnain Haider, Tahir Mughal, Azam Hussain, Mohammad Khalil, Mohammad Irshad.

BOWLING: Hondo 21-6-71-0 (1w); Chigumbura 5-0-27-0; Mupariwa 11-1-63-0; Nkala 15-0-71-0 (1w); Sibanda 13-43-0 (1nb, 1w); Cremer 15-0-69-2; Matskenyeri 10-0-45-0.

RESULT: Match drawn.

UMPIRES: Iftikhar Malik and Islam Khan. -Agencies