February 24, 2008	Sunday	Safar 16, 1429

LAHORE, Feb 23: The Pentangular Cup fixture between Punjab and NWFP was nicely poised after the visitors made a solid reply on the second day of the match at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Saturday.

Good contributions from top four batsmen guided NWFP to 181 for three after ex-Test speedster Fazle Akbar took four wickets as Punjab added 59 runs to their overnight score of 295-7 before being dismissed for 354 in the first innings.

Riffatullah Mohmand led the way with 54 (94 balls, nine fours) as he and Yasir Hameed (39, six fours) launched NWFP’s innings with an opening partnership of 82 before Test spinner Abdul Rehman made the first breakthrough.

Wajahatullah Wasti, the former Test batsman, also hit six boundaries in scoring 39 while sharing a third-wicket stand worth 66 runs with skipper Younis Khan.

Earlier, Fazle picked two of the three wickets to fall to finish with four for 74. The bulk of runs in Punjab’s innings on Saturday were provided by tailender Wahab Riaz. Using the long handle effectively, Riaz scored 44 off 63 balls with six hits to the fence as he and Aizaz Cheema teamed up to put on 39 for the last wicket.

Scoreboard

PUNJAB (1st Innings, overnight 295-7):

Salman Butt run out 72

Mohammad Hafeez c Zulfiqar b Fazle 3

Nasir Jamshed lbw b Fazle 16

Misbah-ul-Haq c Riffat b Sami 53

Shoaib Malik c Zulfiqar b Shakeel 41

Kamran Akmal lbw b Aslam 40

Abdul Rehman b Sami 16

Waqas Ahmed lbw b Fazle 13

Junaid Zia c Zulfiqar b Fazle 11

Wahab Riaz c Khurram b Shakeel 44

Aizaz Cheema not out 10

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-7, NB-25) 35

TOTAL (all out, 99.2 overs) 354

FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-70, 3-112, 4-188, 5-230, 6-266, 7-270, 8-296, 9-315.

BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 23-2-74-4 (14nb); Samiullah Niazi 26-5-85-2 (6nb); Shakeel-ur-Rehman 16.2-2-72-2 (5nb); Aslam Qureshi 29-5-91-1; Wajahatullah Wasti 5-0-22-0.

NWFP (1st Innings):

Riffatullah Mohmand b Rehman 54

Yasir Hameed c Kamran b Waqas 37

Wajahatullah Wasti lbw b Junaid 39

Younis Khan not out 36

Khurram Shahzad not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-2, NB-8) 15

TOTAL (for three wkts, 53 overs) 181

FALL OF WKTS: 1-82, 2-114, 3-180.

TO BAT: Adnan Raees, Zulfiqar Jan, Aslam Qureshi, Shakeel-ur-Rehman, Samiullah Niazi, Fazle Akbar.

BOWLING (to-date): Waqas Ahmed 9-0-45-1 (3nb, 1w); Junaid Zia 8-3-29-1 (2nb); Aizaz Cheema 8-0-17-0 (1w); Wahab Riaz 12-2-45-0 (3nb); Abdul Rehman 16-2-40-1.