February 16, 2006	Thursday	Muharram 17, 1427

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KARACHI, Feb 15: Pakistan Customs, riding on Afsar Nawaz’s superb century, motored along into the semifinals of the Patron’s Cup one-day tournament with a 59-run rout of Habib Bank at the UBL Sports Complex on Wednesday.

However despite the defeat Habib Bank also progressed through to the last-four stage by finishing second behind Customs on net run-rate in Group ‘A’ with both teams collecting 12 points.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Customs face reigning champions Wapda at NBP Sports Complex while Habib Bank meet Group ‘B’ winners ZTBL here.

After being put into bat, which has become a trend in all previous matches on this ground in the current event, Customs collected 236 for nine in 50 overs after Sajid Shah bagged three cheap wickets early on.

Afsar, who made 103 on Monday against PIA, was the mainstay with 119, a knock which was embellished with 15 boundaries. Fawad Alam contributed 37 in the fourth-wicket stand of 93 with Afsar.

The bankers looked like making a serious challenge to their target at 100 for two at halfway stage with Customs looking very ordinary in the field

But once Taufiq Umar was run out for 46, the rot set in and the last eight wickets tumbled for 77 runs.

Off-spinner Murtaza Hussain and slow left-armer Jalat Khan bowled magnificently to account for seven batsmen between them. Murtaza claimed four for 18 and Jalat three for 32.

Earlier, the start was delayed by 30 minutes because Nauman Nazir, the PCB-appointed official scorer, failed to turn up and forced the match referee to call in another scorer.

Nauman reportedly claimed that the PCB had not intimated him about his posting and expressed his inability to come while citing personal reasons.

This is another example of how badly this tournament is being conducted by the PCB. The sponsors have shown indifferent attitude by taking no interest whatsoever in all preliminary round fixtures despite allocating Rs350,000 for this event.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN CUSTOMS:

Kashif Siddique c Junaid b Sajid 14

M. Ali Niazi c Kamran b Sajid 13

Azhar Shafiq c Humayun b Sajid 1

Afsar Nawaz lbw b Junaid 119

Fawad Alam c Humayun b A. Rahman 37

Aamir Iqbal b Hasan 1

Murtaza Hussain c and b A. Rahman 9

Azam Hussain run out 0

Jalat Khan c Junaid b Kaneria 7

Stephen John not out 12

Imran Ali not out 9

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4, NB-6) 14

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 236

FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-31, 3-42, 4-135, 5-141, 6-154, 7-155, 8-187, 9-220.

BOWLING: Sajid Shah 10-2-37-3 (1nb, 2w); Kamran Hussain 7-0-41-0 (2nb); Danish Kaneria 10-0-40-1 (2nb, 1w); Junaid Zia 6-0-29-1 (1w); Hasan Raza 7-0-45-1; Abdul Rahman 10-0-40-2 (1nb).

HABIB BANK:

Riffatullah c Aamir b Imran 22

Taufiq Umar run out 46

Khaqan Arsal c Aamir b Imran 12

Hasan Raza c Kashif b Murtaza 28

Farhan Adil c Fawad b Jalat 22

Humayun Farhat c Fawad b Murtaza 12

Abdul Rahman lbw b Jalat 4

Kamran Hussain c Kashif b Murtaza 14

Junaid Zia lbw b Jalat 0

Danish Kaneria not out 8

Sajid Shah c Fawad b Murtaza 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1, NB-6) 8

TOTAL (all out, 44.4 overs) 177

FALL OF WKTS: 1-37, 2-64, 3-100, 4-126, 5-138, 6-151, 7-155, 8-155, 9-177.

BOWLING: Imran Ali 8-1-33-2 (1nb); Stephen John 8-0-43-0 (4nb); Jalat Khan 8-0-32-3 (1nb); Azam Hussain 10-1-43-0; Murtaza Hussain 8.4-1-18-4 (1w); Afsar Nawaz 2-0-7-0.

UMPIRES: Afzaal Ahmed and M. Akbar Khan.

MATCH REFEREE: Naeem Ahmed.