March 31, 2006	Friday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 1, 1427

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LAHORE, March 30: Devastating bowling by pacemen Asad Ali and Samiullah Niazi, who shared eight wickets, gave Faisalabad early advantage against PIA on the opening day of the four-day Pentangular Cup cricket tournament at the Qadhafi Stadium on Thursday.

On a green-top, right-armer Asad (4-14) and the impressive left-armer Sami (4-31) skittled out the national carrier, the Patrons Trophy runners-up, for a paltry first innings total of 69 in 23 overs, just before lunch.

Faisalabad, who finished runners-up in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Gold League, replied with 277 all out thanks to a superb 96 by former Test batsman Ijaz Ahmed Jr.

Put in to the bat by Faisalabad skipper Misbahul Haq, PIA never recovered once they lost three wickets for eight runs as both Sami and Asad gained appreciable seam movement.

Only Najaf Shah (14) and Mahmood Hamid (10) managed to reach double figures.

Faisalabad lost four wickets for 72 but Ijaz, who struck 14 boundaries, then put on 119 for the fifth wicket with Mohammad Zahid.

Zahid contributed an invaluable 60 which included 10 hits to the ropes.

Right-arm medium-pacer Janisar Khan grabbed five wickets for 63 runs while ex-Test speedster Fazle Akbar took three for 55.

PIA suffered a setback when pacer Aizaz Cheema twisted his right ankle and was unable to complete his seventh over, which was finished by Fazle.

Before PIA could start their second innings, poor light forced the umpires to call off play for the day.

Scoreboard

PIA (1st Innings):

Agha Sabir lbw b Shahid 0

Kamran Sajid c Salman b Sami 0

Yasir Hameed c Imran b Sami 5

Bazid Khan c sub b Asad 4

Asif Mujtaba lbw b Sami 6

Mahmood Hamid c and b Asad 10

Janisar Khan c Misbah b Sami 0

Tahir Khan b Asad 1

Najaf Shah c Ahmed Hayat b Shahid 14

Fazle Akbar not out 8

Aizaz Cheema lbw b Asad 5

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1, NB-7) 11

TOTAL (all out, 23 overs) 69

FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-3, 3-8, 4-27, 5-31, 6-31, 7-37, 8-52, 9-60.

BOWLING: Shahid Nazir 7-1-16-2; Samiullah Niazi 9-3-31-4; Asad Ali 7-2-14-4.

FAISALABAD (1st Innings):

Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Fazle 0

Imran Ali b Fazle 39

Asif Hussain c Kamran b Najaf 10

Mohammad Zahid c Asif b Najaf 60

Misbahul Haq lbw b Janisar 3

Ijaz Ahmed Jr b Janisar 96

Mohammad Salman c Asif b Fazle 15

Ahmed Hayat b Janisar 25

Shahid Nazir c Najaf b Janisar 5

Samiullah Niazi not out 1

Asad Ali lbw b Janisar 6

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-1, NB-9) 17

TOTAL (all out, 62.4 overs) 277

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-35, 3-67, 4-72, 5-191, 6- 223, 7-245, 8-268, 9-269.

BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 14.3-4-55-3; Najaf Shah 14-1-69-2; Janisar Khan 15.4-1-63-5; Aizaz Cheema 6.3-1-43-0; Tahir Khan 4-0-14-0; Kamran Sajid 8-0-26-0.