May 31, 2007	Thursday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 14, 1428

KARACHI, May 30: Tabish Nawab and Hafiz Asad steered Zone-I Whites to the KCCA Inter-zonal Under-19 Championship semi-finals with an exciting seven-run win against Zone-VII Whites at the KCCA Stadium on Wednesday.

Asad slammed seven boundaries in his 58 and Sajjad Khan got 45 with four fours as Zone-I Whites posted 242-9 in the allotted 50 overs. Leg-spinner Farhad Mirza got 4-41.

Zone-VII Whites, in reply, were spun out for 235 in 48 overs. Off-spinner Tabish Nawab took four wickets for 85 and left-arm spinner Amjad Manzoor grabbed 3-62.

Meanwhile, Zone-VI Whites also cruised into the semi-finals after a thrilling six-run win against Zone-II Blues at the TMC Ground despite a six-wicket haul by Blues’ off-spinner Sheraz Ali.

Sheraz took six wickets for 58 as Zone-VI Whites were dismissed for 147 in the 49th over.

However, while chasing a small total of 148 Zone-II Blues could only post 141 before being bowled out in the 46th over. Abdullah Asad made 55 laced with seven fours. Junaid Ilyas was the most successful bowler with 3-45.

Summarised scores:

ZONE-I WHITES 242-9 in 50 overs (Hafiz Asad 58, Sajjad Khan 45, Mannan Aftab 38; Farhad Mirza 4-41, Samiullah 2-62); ZONE-VII WHITES 235 in 48 overs (Farhan Channa 62, Sohail Ismail 35, Hasan Qasim 28; Tabish Nawab 4-85, Amjad Manzoor 3-62).

ZONE-VI WHITES 147 in 48.3 overs (Rehan Azam 31, Zakir Afridi 29, Tauqeer Khalid 25, Talha Khan 20; Sheraz Ali 6-58); ZONE-II BLUES 141 in 45.1 overs (Abdullah Asad 55; Junaid Ilyas 3-45, Mudassar Manzoor 2-27). —APP