July 08, 2007	Sunday	Jamadi-us-Sani 22, 1428

KARACHI, July 7: Zone-V battled to 270 against Zone-IV in the last round of Karachi region matches in the PCB Inter-district Under-19 Cricket Championship at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground here on Saturday.

Zone-V, who just need a victory to clinch the title, owed their total to useful contributions from Abu Bakr (51 off 119 balls, four fours), Salman Khalid (40 off 78 balls, six fours and one six), Rashid Nawaz (35 off 56 balls, six fours), Mohammad Waqas (34 off 48 balls, six fours) and Mubarak Zaib (33 of 61 balls, five fours).

Slow left-armer Masoom Ali excelled for Zone-IV with figures of five for 65 in 24.5 overs.

Zone-IV ended the day at 51 for one with Ali Jawad going great guns on a 40-ball 35 which includes seven boundaries.

Meanwhile, opener Mohammad Abad hit 111 to help Zone-VI recover from 96 for six to 237 against bottom-placed Zone-III at the KCCA Stadium.

Abad, who struck six boundaries in his 214-ball knock, put on 116 for seventh-wicket in the company of Mohammad Junaid (57 not out off 157 balls, three fours).

Zone-III were 23 for one at stumps.

Zone-II looked on course for victory against Zone-VI at the TMC Ground. After bowling out Zone-VI for 156, Zone-II reached 117 for three by close of stumps.

Summarised scores:

At Landhi Gymkhana:

ZONE-V 270 in 73.5 overs (Abu Bakr 51, Salman Khalid 40, Rashid Nawaz 35, Mohammad Waqas 34, Mubarak Zaib 33; Masoom Ali 5-65, Ali Qasim 2-35); ZONE-IV 51-1 in 14 overs (Ali Jawad 35 not out).

At TMC Ground:

ZONE-VI 156 in 51 overs (Zakir Afridi 40, Shoaib Nazar 20; Shiraz Ali 4-46, Usman Aamir 2-9, Athar Hussain 2-27); ZONE-II 117-3 in 39 overs (Ammar Hasan 57, Abdul Jabbar Khan 23 not out; Sohaib Khan 2-30).

At KCCA Stadium:

ZONE-VII 237 in 77.3 overs (Mohammad Abad 111, Mohammad Junaid 57 not out, Farhan Channa 24; S.M. Zafar 3-53, Mohammad Jibran 3-65, Akhtar Fahim 2-24); ZONE-III 23-1 in 14 overs.