April 01, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 23, 1429

LAHORE, March 31: Disciplined bowling followed by a brave 58-run unbroken stand for the ninth wicket between Yasir Ali and Mohammad Rameez led Rawalpindi Rams to a well-earned two-wicket win over Wapda in the Group ‘A’ Super Eight match of the ABN-Amro National One-day Cricket Championship at the LCCA Ground here on Monday.

Batting first, Wapda, having prolific Test batsman Mohammad Yousuf in their line-up, were restricted to a modest 201 all out in 47.4 overs by Rawalpindi Rams whose all bowlers were among the wickets with leg-spinner Babar Naeem remaining at the top with three for 50.

Rams, in response, had a fine open stand of 51 provided by Umar Amin (44) and Babar Naeem (28). However, the Rams’ innings descended alarmingly. From 51 for 1, they dropped to 108 for 4 before going down further to 147 for 8.

At this stage, Yasir (26 not out) and Rameez (27 not out) — the team’s number nine and ten – took guard. They resurrected Rams’ innings that was at the brink of an unexpected collapse. Playing with grit, they took the total, without further damage, to 205 for 8, with 5.1 overs to spare.

Both Yasir and Rameez had, earlier, picked one and two wickets for 30 and 48 runs respectively.

Earlier, Yousuf, leading Wapda, made a short appearance for just 10 minutes to face seven balls, scoring just four.

Aamir Sajjad (49, four fours, 81 balls) was the only noteworthy scorer for Wapda, who, despite getting an acceptable start of 46 through openers Sunny Irshad (30) and Nawaz Sardar (16), slumped to 104 for 4, before eventually being bowled out for 201.

Scoreboard

WAPDA:

Nawaz Sardar c Yasim b Aamir 16

Sunny Irshad b Rameez 30

Tariq Aziz lbw b Rameez 24

Mohammad Yousuf c Ibrahim b Babar 4

Aamir Sajjad lbw b Yasim 49

Bilal Khilji run out 20

Zulqarnain Haider not out 16

Kashif Raza b Babar 0

Sarfraz Ahmed c Ibrahim b Babar 18

Aqeel Ahmed c Awais b Aamir 0

Azharullah c Awais b Yasir 6

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-9, NB-2) 18

TOTAL (all out, 47.4 overs) 201

FALL OF WKTS: 1-46, 2-57, 3-69, 4-104, 5-147, 6-164, 7-164, 8-186, 9-188.

BOWLING: Yasir Ali 8.4-0-30-1 (1w); Mohammad Aamir 9-0-33-2 (1nb, 2w); Mohammad Rameez 10-0-48-2 (1nb, 2w); Yasim Murtaza 10-0-33-1; Babar Naeem 10-0-50-3 (4w).

RAWALPINDI RAMS:

Umar Amin c Zulqarnain b Nawaz 44

Babar Naeem lbw b Sarfraz 28

Mohammad Ibrahim c Bilal b Sarfraz 4

Zahid Mansoor c Azhar b Aqeel 13

Naveed Qureshi lbw Azhar 18

Usman Saeed c Zulqarnain b Kashif 14

Yasim Murtaza c Bilal b Nawaz 2

Awais Zia c Zulqarnain b Kashif 10

Yasir Ali not out 26

Mohammad Rameez not out 27

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-3, W-5, NB-5) 19

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 44.5 overs) 205

FALL OF WKTS: 1-51, 2-57, 3-80, 4-108, 5-122, 6-129, 7-140, 8-147.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Aamir.

BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 10-1-32-2; Kashif Raza 9-0-43-2 (5nb, 1w); Azharullah 95-0-56-1 (3w); Aqeel Ahmed 9-1-46-1; Nawaz Sardar 7-1-19-2 (1w).

RESULT: Rawalpindi Rams won by two wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Mohammad Arif.

MATCH REFEREE: Aziz-ur-Rehman.