February 23, 2008	Saturday	Safar 15, 1429

KARACHI, Feb 22: After being bowled out for a modest 253 in their first innings, Balochistan fought back to even out matters on the opening day of their Pentangular Cup fixture against Federal Areas at the National Stadium here on Friday.

Fielding no less than nine guest players in their final XI, Balochistan owe their partial recovery initially to opener Usman Tariq before an unlikely last-wicket partnership between Imranullah and Azharullah added respectability to the total.

Azharullah then brought Balochistan right back into the game with the wickets of Fayyaz Ahmed (16) and Bazid (0) in his first over before Raheel Majeed (42) and Usman Saeed (13) saw out the day with Federal Areas reaching 79 for three.

Having lost the toss, Balochistan did well to survive Friday’s three-hour first session to collect 159 for four as Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat, the two bowlers with international experience, struggled to find rhythm in hazy conditions that prevailed throughout the day.Sohail and Yasir cornered Balochistan batsmen by taking nine wickets between them. Usman (68 off 116 balls, 11 fours and one six) and skipper Naseem Khan (31) added 73 for the fifth wicket after Sohail picked three of the first four wickets.

However, tailenders Imranullah (51 not out off 46 balls, nine fours) and Azharullah (20) had other ideas as they put on 53 crucial runs when Saeed Ajmal picked the only wicket claimed by a spinner.

Left-arm seamer Sohail, who bowled 15 overs on the trot in the first session, finished with good figures of five for 66 in 23 overs. Yasir, meanwhile, took four for 83 despite lacking in both line and direction.

Federal Areas are playing this game without their nominated skipper Rao Iftikhar. The Pakistan pacer is troubled by a shoulder injury. Former Test batsman Naveed Qureshi is leading them here.

Scoreboard

BALOCHISTAN (1st Innings):

Shoaib Khan lbw b Yasir 25

Usman Tariq lbw b Sohail 68

Saeed Anwar Jr c Raheel 8

Bilal Khilji b Sohail 4

Saeed bin Nasir c Naeem b Sohail 1

Naseem Khan c Fayyaz b Yasir 31

Kamran Hussain c Naeem b Yasir 7

Gulraiz Sadaf c Bazid b Sohail 0

Abdur Rauf c Raheel b Yasir 7

Imranullah not out 51

Azharullah lbw b Saeed Ajmal 20

EXTRAS (B-14, LB-4, W-1, NB-12) 31

TOTAL (all out, 61.2 overs) 253

FALL OF WKTS: 1-41, 2-78, 3-82, 4-92, 5-165, 6-170, 7-170, 8-172, 9-200.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 23-9-66-5 (1nb, 1w); Yasir Arafat 20-2-83-4 (6nb); Shahzad Alam 9-2-35-0 (4nb); Saeed Ajmal 8.2-1-36-1 (1nb); Raheel Majeed 1-0-15-0.

FEDERAL AREAS (1st Innings):

Raheel Majeed not out 42

Afaq Raheem c Gulraiz b Kamran 2

Fayyaz Ahmed c Gulraiz b Azhar 16

Bazid Khan c Bilal b Azhar 0

Usman Saeed not out 13

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-4) 6

TOTAL (for three wkts, 17 overs) 79

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-52, 3-52.

TO BAT: Naveed Qureshi, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, Shahzad Azam, Naeem Anjum, Saeed Ajmal.

BOWLING (to-date): Abdur Rauf 9-2-37-0; Kamran Hussain 6-0-26-1 (4nb); Azharullah 2-0-14-2.

UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Ahsan Raza.

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Naeem Ahmed.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.