January 19, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 28, 1427

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KARACHI, Jan 18: Karachi Urban took early control of their Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Gold League match against Lahore Shalimar by bundling out the visitors for 176 in the first innings at the National Stadium here on Thursday.

By stumps on day one, the home side further consolidated their position as the replied with 52 for no wicket with Khurram Manzoor batting on 19 and the left-handed Agha Sabir on 27.

Lahore Shalimar batsmen were all at sea after Karachi Urban skipper Hasan Raza invited them to have first use of a slightly green-tinged but slow track.

Salman Butt, the Test discard who made brace of 90s in the first match against Faisalabad, failed to capitalize on two dropped catches and perished for 25 after his opening partner Sohail Ahmed had been bowled by off-spinner Tahir Khan for seven.

Salman, the Lahore Shalimar captain, was neatly taken in the slips after striking three boundaries in a stay of 85 minutes.

Aamir Sajjad was the day’s highest scorer before he was eighth out after battling it out for 142 minutes. His 37 off 96 balls was laced with six hits to the fence. The right-hander was brilliantly caught in the gulley by Saeed bin Nasir when he slashed hard at paceman Rajesh Ramesh.

The best stand in the innings was provided by Aamir and ex-Test spinner Mohammad Hussain who together added 44 after Lahore Shalimar had lost half their side for 64.

Irfan Fazil, another former Test man, used the long handle effectively to finish on 23 not out. Otherwise, it was a dismal story for the visitors all day.

Tahir was in the thick of things. Apart from taking three for 62 in 21 overs, the promising cricketer held two fine catches and ran out last man Mohammad Jamshed, who is making his first-class debut.

Karachi Urban, however, suffered a setback when opening bowler Tanvir Ahmed sustained a finger injury as he took evasive action when Humayun Farhat struck a powerful shot back towards the bowler. In fact, the impact of that blow was such that the ball deflected onto Tanvir’s head as it rebounded off his hand.

Scoreboard

LAHORE SHALIMAR (1st Innings):

Salman Butt c Tahir b Imran 25

Sohail Ahmed b Tahir 7

Khaqan Arsal c Tahir b Imran 6

Aamir Sajjad c Saeed b Ramesh 37

Arsalan Mir c Agha Sabir b Tahir 8

Humayun Farhat c Imran b Ramesh 7

Mohammad Hussain c Asif b Azam 24

Junaid Zia c Amin b Tahir 17

Irfan Fazil not out 23

Mohammad Khalil c Tahir b Azam 12

Mohammad Jamshed run out 1

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-1, NB-6) 9

TOTAL (all out, 70 overs) 176

FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-43, 3-43, 4-57, 5-64, 6-108, 7-139, 8-141, 9-167.

BOWLING: Tanvir Ahmed 6.2-1-9-1 (1w); Rajesh Ramesh 17.4-5-47-2; Imran Javed 15-6-29-2 (5nb); Tahir Khan 21-7-62-3 (1nb); Azam Hussain 10-3-27-2.

KARACHI URBAN (1st Innings):

Agha Sabir not out 27

Khurram Manzoor not out 19

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1, NB-4) 6

TOTAL (for no wkt, 19 overs) 52

TO BAT: Asif Zakir, Saeed bin Nasir, Hasan Raza, Imran Javed, Amin-ur-Rehman, Tahir Khan, Tanvir Ahmed, Rajesh Ramesh, Azam Hussain.

BOWLING (to-date): Junaid Zia 5-1-19-0; Mohammad Jamshed 5-16-0 (1nb, 1w); Irfan Fazil 3-0-12-0 (3nb); Mohammad Khalil 4-2-4-0; Arsalan Mir 2-2-0-0.

UMPIRES: Iqbal Butt and Zaheer Ahmed.

MATCH REFEREE: Anwar Khan.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.