April 16, 2006	Sunday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 17, 1427

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LAHORE, April 15: A gutsy century by opener Hafiz Majid and his third-wicket stand of 145 with Mohammad Ayub helped Sialkot beat Karachi Harbour by three wickets in the Pentangular Cup at Qadhafi Stadium on Friday.

Majid scored 307-ball 156 while Ayub made 150-ball 61 as the overnight pair steadied the innings with the stand lasted 209 minutes and enabled Sialkot to overhaul the formidable winning target of 369 for the loss of seven wickets in 106.5 overs.

Majid, who resumed at 64, slammed 26 boundaries on his way of fine knock. Ayub, began from 10 and ably supported Majid, with nine strokes to the fence.

Sialkot, who had conceded 99 runs lead on first innings but gave improved performance were well on the road to victory when Majid and Ayub had taken the total to 277, just 92 runs away to the target.

But paceman Faraz Ahmed, who finished with 3-120, had Ayub caught by Asif Zakir.

Majid, who earlier had an opening stand of 104 with Atiqur Rehman, joined hands with Tahir Mughal for the third big partnership of the innings.

Majid and Atiq put on 74 runs in the fourth-wicket partnership to make the win possible.

But as Tahir was separated by leg-spinner Fawad Alam, caught by Faraz, at the total of 351, a batting collapse triggered which reduced Sialkot to 365-7, before Kamran Younis (5) and Asim Butt (0) accomplished the target.

Majid was eventually caught by wicket-keeper Farhan Iqbal while sweeping off-spinner Atif Maqbool at the total of 355.

Scoreboard

KARACHI HARBOUR (1st innings): 326 (Rajesh Ramesh 73, Mohammad Hasnain 72; Kashif Daud 5-80, Asim Butt 4-80).

SIALKOT (1st innings) 227 (Mohammad Ayub 77; Mohammad Hasnain 3-62, Atif Maqbool 3-43).

KARACHI (2nd innings) 269 (Afsar Nawaz 65; Kashif Daud 4-110).

SIALKOT (2nd innings, overnight 160-2):

Hafiz Majid c Farhan b Atif. 156

Atiqur-Rehman c Atif b Rajesh. 51

Balal Hussain lbw Faraz. 17

Mohammad Ayub c Asif b Faraz. 61

Tahir Mughal c Faraz b Fawad 42

Kamran Younis not out . 5

Shahzad Malik c n b Faraz 4

Kashif Daood b Atif. 4

Asim Butt not out. 0

EXTRAS (B-15, LB-3, W-5, NB-6). 29

TOTAL (seven wkts, 106.5 overs). 369

FALL OF WKTS: 1-104, 2-132, 3-277, 4-351, 5-355, 6-360, 7-365.

BOWLING: Faraz Ahmad Khan 24.3-2-120-3 (1nb, 2w); Rajesh Ramesh 22.2-3-61-1 (3w); Atif Maqbool 25.4-6-86-2 (1nb); Mohammad Hasnain 23-7-64-0 (4nb); Afsar Nawaz 0.2-0-0-0; Fawad Alam 9-1-19-1; Fahad Ullah 1-0-1-0.