April 15, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 8, 1429

LAHORE, April 14: Karachi Professional Whites thrashed Karachi Afroze by 9 wickets in the South Zone regional final of the 10th National Senior Cricket Cup at the Asghar Ali Shah stadium on Monday and qualified for the national final.

Professionals won the toss in this 12-a-side match and invited Afroze to bat who scored 165-8 in the allotted 35 overs. Shujaat Ali (34 with one six and one four), Irfanullah (30) and Javed Malik (20) were their notable scorers. Mansoor Akhtar bagged 2-37 and Jaffar Qureshi 2-24 for Afroze team.

In reply, Professional Whites knocked off the target for the loss of two wickets in 21 overs with Man of the Match Jaffar Qureshi scoring a quickfire unbeaten half century (59) laced with six fours and one six. Mansoor Akhtar remained unbeaten with 37 before Aamir Hanif (37) and Ashraf Pakhali (21) saw their side in to victory. Javed Malik and Mujahid claimed one wicket each.

The North Zone Championship is in quarterfinal stage and its regional final will be played on April 24 at the Bagh-e-Jinnah ground here.

Altogether 65 teams - 44 from North and 21 from South Zone - have participated in the qualifying and the main round matches. —Agencies