March 06, 2008	Thursday	Safar 27 ,1429

ISLAMABAD, March 5: Federal Areas pace bowler Sohail Tanvir returned impressive figures of 5-58 for his team in a must-win fixture here on Wednesday as Sindh were dismissed for 222 in their first innings in the Pentangular Cup cricket tournament at the Diamond Cricket Ground.

At the close, Asher Zaidi(24) and Mohammad Naveed (0) were at the crease as Federal Area reached 119 for 3 at the end of the first day.

Earlier, Sindh were sent in to bat first by the hosts. But the Shahid Afridi-led Sindh squad were off to a faulty start when their first two wickets fell for just 34.

However, Nomanullah (53) and Rizwan Ahmed (27) rescued the innings as Sindh crossed the 100-run mark. But at 108-4, Sindh were again in trouble when skipper Shahid Afridi stepped in to play a breathtaking knock. His superb 70 included eight fours and three sixes and came off just 49 balls. Sindh, unfortunately, lost their last three wickets, in a space of 15 runs and were bowled out for 222.

Apart from Sohail’s heroics with the ball, the Federal Areas spinner Saeed Ajmal took 2-54.

In their turn, the Federal Areas were off to a determined start with openers Raheel Majeed (72) and Umair putting on 82 for the first wicket. Raheel struck 12 fours and one towering six.

However, new pace bowling sensation Sohail Khan then dismissed Raheel and Usman Saeed (0) in quick succession and Afridi got rid of Umair to reduce the opposition to 119-3.

Talking to Dawn after the close, Sohail Tanvir said his team was aiming to get a sizeable lead over Sindh. “With three days still to go, we will try our best to get into a commanding position and hopefully win the game.”

A fairly large crowd was present at the Diamond Cricket Gound to watch prominent cricket stars such as Afridi, Danish Kaneria, Sohail Tanvir, Yasir Arafat and Fiasal Iqbal in action here.

Scoreboard

SINDH (1st Innings):

Khurram Manzoor c Naeem b Yasir 15

Khalid Latif c Bazid b Sohail 11

Naumanullah c Usman b Shahzad 53

Faisal Iqbal c Raheel b Sohail 10

Rizwan Ahmed run out 27

Shahid Afridi c and b Saeed 70

Sarfraz Ahmed c Naeem b Sohail 7

Anwar Ali Khan b Saeed 1

Danish Kaneria c Naeem b Sohail 10

Sohail Khan lbw b Sohail 2

Abdul Ameer not out 0

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-2, W-2, NB-4) 16

TOTAL (all out, 53.3 overs) 222

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-34, 3-77, 4-108, 5-158, 6-194, 7-209, 8-212, 9-215.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 20.3-4-58-5 (1w); Yasir Arafat 16-4-53-1 (1nb); Shahzad Azam 11-1-47-1 (2nb, 1w); Saeed Ajmal 6-0-54-2 (1nb).

FEDERAL AREAS (1st Innings):

Raheel Majeed c Sarfraz b Sohail 72

Umair Khan lbw b Afridi 19

Ashar Zaidi not out 24

Usman Saeed b Sohail 0

Naveed Qureshi not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, W-1, NB-2) 4

TOTAL (for 3 wkts, 30.2 overs) 119

FALL OF WKTS: 1-82, 2-119, 3-119.

TO BAT: Bazid Khan, Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tanvir, Naeem Anjum, Saeed Ajmal, Shahzad Azam.

BOWLING (to-date): Sohail Khan 8-1-29-2; Anwar Ali Khan 4-0-19-0; Danish Kaneria 6.2-2-19-0; Abdul Ameer 6-2-24-0 (2nb, 1w); Shahid Afridi 6-1-28-1.

UMPIRES: Ahmed Shahab and Ahsan Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Ishtiaq Ahmed.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Shakeel Ahmed.