KARACHI: Zone-VI chalked up their second straight success in the Karachi region event of the PCB Regional Inter-district U-19 Cricket Championships when they decimated Zone-I by an innings and 19 runs at the KCCA Stadium here on Tuesday.

Zone-VI’s second victory by innings means now they move outright to the top of regional standings with 26 points in four matches.

Zone-II are second with 19 points from five fixtures after taking just three points in their drawn tie against Zone-V, who are in third place on 16 points.

At the bottom of table, Zone-VII finally broke their duck with first three points in five matches after being held to draw by Zone-IV, the side who now are rooted at the base of the standings without a single point.

After obtaining a commanding first-innings lead of 270, Zone-VI restricted Zone-I to 251 all out in the second innings on the last day of the two-day game.

In fact, Zone-I could have been dismissed for a much smaller total had middle-order batsman Zeeshan Haider not played a knock of great substance while scoring 59.36 per cent of the entire team’s tally. Zeeshan remained undefeated with a brilliant 149 to follow an unbeaten 151 he made against Zone-V in round two. His defiant 198-ball innings contained 18 boundaries and three sixes.

The only player to offer Zeeshan support was Shiraz Malik, who scored exactly 50 (eight fours and one six) as the pair added 81 for the fifth wicket.

Left-arm spin duo of Mohammad Hassaan Khan (4-54) and Alam Khurshid Shah (3-93) shared the bulk of wickets to fall in Zone-I’s second innings.

Earlier resuming at 329-5, Zone-VI eventually declared their overnight first innings at 378-9 with skipper Fahaddis Bukhari falling 19 short of a second century in consecutive matches. His 81 included 11 fours and one six.

Spinner Mohammad Wasim bagged five wickets for 96 runs.

Zone-V, who were 135-7 in response to Zone-II’s 196 at stumps on Monday, fought their way to 184 all out at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground.

Tauseeq Ahmed was their mainstay with a gutsy contribution of 74 (10 fours and one six), while Wasiuddin made 36. Spinners Kahaf Patel and Mahmood Ali shared the bowling honours with four wickets apiece.

In order to contrive an outright result, Zone-II batted aggressively in their second innings before declaring at 227-4 in 46 overs. Kashif Iqbal followed up his 78 in the first innings with 71 which was laced with 12 boundaries.

Saeed Raza hit a breezy 58 (six fours and one six) and Ammad Alam got 52 not out (four fours and three sixes).

Leg-spinner Ashar Qureshi, the star in the first innings with 7-63, took 3-107 to finish with match bag of 10-170.

Set an unlikely 240 for victory, Zone-V reached 131-5 in 30 overs when play was called off. Arsal Bashir slammed 12 boundaries in his 54 not out.

Zone-IV were all out for 203 in their first innings at the TMC Ground after starting on Tuesday at 57-0 to fall 61 runs behind Zone-VII’s 264-9. Hanif Azad made 57 with the aid of nine fours and one six, while slow left-armer Daniyal Matloob grabbed five wickets for 73 runs.

In the remaining time left, Zone-VII found themselves in dire straits at 98-8 in their second innings.

The next round of matches will get under way from Thursday with Zone-VI playing Zone-V at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground, Zone-I taking on Zone-II at the TMC Ground and Zone-III facing Zone-IV at the NBP Sports Complex.

Scores and results on Tuesday (final day of two):

At KCCA Stadium, Karachi: Zone-VI beat Zone-I by an innings and 19 runs.

ZONE-I 108 in 35.5 overs (Mohammad Zubair 46; Fahaddis Bukhari 4-16, Mohammad Hassaan Khan 2-19) and 251 in 66.5 overs (Zeeshan Haider 149 not out, Shiraz Malik 50; Mohammad Hassaan Khan 4-54, Alam Khurshid Shah 3-93); ZONE-VI 378-9 declared in 64 overs (Hasan Mohsin 131, Fahaddis Bukhari 81, S.M. Tahami 79, Abdul Rehman 26; Muhammad Wasim 5-96).

At TMC Ground, Karachi: Match drawn.

ZONE-VII 264-9 in 70 overs (Azizuddin 116, Zubair Dilawar 54, Rafiullah 25; Daniyal Naveed 3-75, Asadullah 2-50, Adil Ali 2-50) and 98-8 in 37 overs (Rafiullah 28 not out, S.M. Baqar Rizvi 26; Asadullah Hamza 3-14, Adil Ali 3-23, Ammar Khan 2-55); ZONE-IV 203 in 65 overs (Hanif Azad 57, Ali Sohaib 26, Mohammad Daniyal 25, Syed Abdullah Rafay 22; Daniyal Matloob 5-73, Adil Ijaz 3-59).

At Landhi Gymkhana Ground, Karachi: Match drawn.

ZONE-II 196 in 51.2 overs (Kashif Iqbal 78, Mohammad Asad 43, Saeed Raza 27; Ashar Qureshi 7-63, Saifullah 2-43) and 227-4 declared in 46 overs (Kashif Iqbal 71, Saeed Raza 58, Ammad Alam 52 not out; Ashar Qureshi 3-107); ZONE-V 184 in 55.5 overs (Tauseeq Ahmed 74, Wasiuddin 36, Arsal Bashir 32; Kahaf Patel 4-43, Mahmood Ali 4-71) and 131/5 in 30 overs (Arsal Bashir 54 not out, Farooq Ali 36; Mahmood Ali 2-27, Kahaf Patel 2-30).

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play