KARACHI, July 26: Zone-VI completed a grand double by winning the A.K. Majeed Memorial KCCA under-19 Inter-zonal cricket tournament with crushing innings defeat of Zone-V inside two days at the KCCA Stadium on Tuesday. After taking a substantial first-innings lead of 158 runs, Zone-VI bowlers, spearheaded by medium-pacer Zaheer Abbas, ran through the Zone-V batting line-up to complete an innings and 54-run victory on the second day of the three-day fixture.
Prior to this competition, Zone-VI had won the seven-team PCB Karachi region under-19 Inter-zonal cricket championship.
Zone-V folded up for a miserable 104 in the second innings with Zaheer grabbing six for 45 in 9.5 overs. The only batsman to offer some of a fight was all-rounder Hammad Rafiq, who scored a gutsy 48 off 58 deliveries.
Zaheer was given good support by his new-ball partner Anwar Ali who dismissed Wasim Hanif and Talib Ali for ducks with successive deliveries. Anwar ended up with two for 29 in eight overs.
Earlier resuming at their overnight score of 102 for one in reply to Zone-V’s first-innings tally of 163, Zone-VI were all out for 321. Sarfraz, who was batting on 76, was out for 95. His 133-ball knock was laced with 17 boundaries. It was then left to Owais Ahmed Rahmani to take charge. The wicket-keeper/batsman struck 10 fours in scoring a 98-ball 84 while sharing a seventh-wicket partnership of 69 with Shoaib Lodhi (27).
Hammad Rafiq was the outstanding bowler for Zone-V. The slow left-armer finished with five for 89 in 25.2 overs. Fellow left-armer Tufail Ahmed captured four for 127 in 39 overs.
SUMMARISED SCORES:
ZONE-V 163 in 60.3 overs (Salman Hafeez 36 not out, Wasim Hanif 34, Adnanur Rahman 25, Shaharyar Zafar 21, Talib Ali 20; Anwar Ali 4-37, Shakir Ali 3-41, Misbah Khan 2-37) and 104 in 21.5 overs (Hammad Rafiq 48; Zaheer Abbas 6-45, Anwar Ali 2-29); ZONE-VI 321 in 89.2 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 95, Owais Rahmani 84, Hasnain Rizvi 30, Shoaib Lodhi 27; Hammad Rafiq 5-89, Tufail Ahmed 4-127).