KARACHI: Textile Tigers, Apollo Sports, Turk Plast, Muslim Eagles, Amar Cables and Aftab Qarshi all registered victories over their respective rivals in the Northern Zone matches of the 17th National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2015, being organized by the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA).

In the matches held in Lahore, Textile Tigers defeated Shah Jamal Greens by 43 runs at the Stag Ground. Textile Tigers scored 219 for seven in the allotted 30 overs with Rizwan Nisar (63), Mujahid Jamshed (53) and Tauseef Mughal (44 not out) scoring well while Sohail Ahmed (3-45) bowled effectively. In reply Shah Jamal Greens were routed for 176 in 26.3 overs despite a fine knock from Mahmood Ahmed (46). The innings was wrecked by Mujahid Jamshed (6-26).

In another Lahore match, Apollo Sports outwitted Kot Khwaja Saeed CC by five wickets at the Allama Iqbal Institute Ground. Batting first, Apollo Sports scored 272 for nine in 40 overs with Ayub Khan (52) and Bilal Ali (40) being the leading scorers. Bilal Aslam was the pick of the bowlers with 3-50. Salman Ali scored 101 to steer Kot Khwaja Saeed CC to victory as they reached the target of 278 in 36.4 overs with five wickets in hand. Sherbaz Khan (55) also batted well.

In the third match, Amar Cables whipped Muridke Tigers by seven wickets at the Shah Faisal Ground. Muridke Tigers was bowled out for 146 in 29.4 overs by Amar Cables for whom Shakeel Malik returned figures of five for 30. Amar Cables then raced to victory in 23.3 overs for the loss of just Aftab Qarshi overcame Chaudhary Sports by 18 runs at the Stag Ground. Rasheed Akhtar (49), Abdul Waheed (43) and Moshin Aftab Qarshi (42) enabled Aftab Qarshi to reach a total of 196 for nine in 30 overs. Naveed Sufi (3-17) was the pick of the bowlers. In reply, Chaudhary Sports were all out for 181 in 29.2 overs with Abid Shaikh (41) being the top scorer. The main wicket-takers were Tariq Hussain (3-24) and Abdul Ghafoor (3-42).

Javed Hafeez took five wickets for 23 runs to power Turk Plast to a convincing victory over Hajveri Sports who were restricted to 159 for nine in 30 overs despite Saleem Malik’s 48. Earlier Turk Plast amassed 234 for four in 30 overs with major contributions coming from Abdul waheed (93), Dastagir Ahmed (67) and Hammad Maqbool (44).

Adnan Khan’s unbeaten 118 powered Muslim Eagles to a crushing nine-wicket win over Bahawalpur Greens, who had been contained to 197 for six in 25 overs despite fine knocks from Fawad Anwar (67), Khurshid Ahmed (43) and Mohammad Javed (39). Muslim Eagles reached the target in 22.2 overs with Iftikhar Afzal (38 not out) and Nasir Khan (34) also contributing their bit.

Published in Dawn February 1st, 2015

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