25 February 2005	Friday	15 Muharram 1426

KARACHI, Feb 24: PIA cantered to a three-day victory in the Patron's Trophy Pool 'A' match when they thrashed PTCL by 255 runs here at the National Stadium on Thursday.

The win lifted PIA to the top of pool standings with 18 points with two matches left in the league phase of the championship.

PTCL were never in the mood to make an attempt in pursuit of the huge target of 434 in 162 overs. Their second innings lasted just 42.1 overs as they crashed to 178 all out.

Naved Latif struck some rasping strokes on his way to 41 off 40 deliveries. His cameo was spiced with eight boundaries. Apart from him, opener Mohammad Fayyaz and Test left-hander Asim Kamal each hit four fours in contributing 31 apiece.

Fazle Akbar, the wrecker-in-chief of the first innings, was once again in devastating bowling form as he ripped through the top-order with three wickets. In between, he was also responsible for forcing Shahzad Malik to retire hurt with a painful blow in the groin area.

The big fast bowler finished with match haul of nine for 78. Najaf Shah, the left-arm fast-medium bowler who took four for 30 in the first innings, completed PTCL's misery by taking the final wicket to end up with two for 53. But the most successful PIA bowler was Imran Tahir. The leg-spinner claimed four for 42. Earlier, skipper Moin Khan scored 55 as PIA were dismissed for 210 in their second innings.

The former Test captain hammered eight fours in his 67-ball knock. Mohammad Khalil, unable to take the new ball on Wednesday after being hit on his foot while batting against Fazle, captured three of the last five wickets.

SCOREBOARD



PIA (1st Innings) 296 
(Kamran Sajid 72, Yasir Hameed 70; Mohammad Khalil 4-74).



PTCL (1st Innings) 73 (Fazle Akbar 6-24, Najaf Shah 4-30).



PIA (2nd Innings, overnight 155-5):



Kamran Sajid b Riaz                        6



Yasir Hameed c Ashar b Yasir               40



Shoaib Khan c Zulqarnain b Yasir           2



Asif Mujtaba b Fayyaz                      18



Faisal Iqbal c Zulqarnain b Riaz           42



Zeeshan Pervez run out                     15



Moin Khan c Riaz b Yasir                   55



Imran Tahir c Zulqarnain b Khalil          12



Najaf Shah not out                         8



Fazle Akbar b Khalil                       0



Aizaz Cheema c Ashar b Khalil              0



EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, NB-3)                   8



TOTAL (all out, 64.5 overs)                210



FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-23, 3-56, 4-93, 5-117, 6-166, 7-194, 8-204, 9-206.



BOWLING: Riaz Afridi 20-4-94-2; Yasir Ali 15-4-42-3 (3nb); Naved Latif 2-0-18-0; 
Mohammad Hussain 14-5-20-0; Mohammad Fayyaz 6-1-12-1; Mohammad Khalil 7.5-1-19-3.



PTCL (2nd Innings):



Ashar Zaidi c Asif b Fazle                 6



Mohammad Fayyaz c Yasir b Fazle            31



Shahzad Malik retired hurt                 0



Aamir Bashir b Fazle                       10



Naved Latif lbw b Najaf                    41



Mohammad Hussain c Faisal b Imran          17



Zulqarnain Haider b Imran                  5



Asim Kamal lbw b Imran                     31



Riaz Afridi c sub b Imran                 15



Yasir Ali not out                         6



Mohammad Khalil c Zeeshan b Najaf         4



EXTRAS (B-1, NB-11)                       12



TOTAL (all out, 42.1 overs)               178



FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-41, 3-60, 4-101, 5-113, 6-139, 7-150, 8-171, 9-178.



BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 13-1-54-3 (4nb); Najaf Shah 15.1-0-53-2 (3nb); 
Aizaz Cheema 4-0-28-0; Imran Tahir 10-2-42-4 (3nb).



UMPIRES: Ijaz Ahmed and Riazuddin.



MATCH REFEREE: Saadat Ali.