KARACHI: Once regarded as one of first-class cricket powerhouses, the struggling PIA found themselves embarrassed yet again on Wednesday when they forced to follow on in their Patron’s Trophy Grade-II tournament match by ZTBL in Islamabad.

Replying to ZTBL’s fist-innings total of 321, PIA mustered 148 all out in 53.3 overs with ex-international Anwar Ali scoring a 65-ball 56. Batting a second time, the national carrier reached 73-2 at draw of stumps on day two of the three-day Pool ‘C’ fixture.

Fahad-ul-Haq scored 104 off 191 balls (11 fours and one six) to help Railways secure a handy lead of 52 against Brighto Paints in their Pool ‘D’ encounter at the LCCA Ground in Lahore.

Former Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Talha captured seven wickets for 78 runs as Port Qasim shot out CandyLand for 102 to take a commanding lead of 245 in their Pool ‘B’ tie at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

Following on, CandyLand put up a good show to collect 255-5 with Adil Akram batting with 98 (163 balls, 18 boundaries).

K-Electric, meanwhile, earned a lead of 95-run by dismissing their Pool ‘A’ rivals Omar Associates for 219 at the UBL Sports Complex.

In the same group, Haris Khanzada hit 100 (230 balls, 14 fours) as CAA made 240 in reply to Navy’s 268 at the NBP Sports Complex, while slow left-armer took 8-68 but his heroics failed to prevent SBP earning a 29-run advantage on the first at the SBP Sports Complex.

Close of play scores on Wednesday (day two of three):

First round:

Pool ‘A’:

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: HAIDERI TRADERS 180 in 66.1 overs (Asim Ali 85; Nazar Hussain 6-49) and 95-4 in 35 overs (Asim Ali 33; Nazar Hussain 2-10); SBP 209 in 74.1 overs (Rizwan Hussain 93, Umar Waheed 32; Jalat Khan 8-68)

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: K-ELECTRIC 314 in 82.2 overs (Sarmad Hameed 123, Saeed Bin Nasir 43, Faraz Ali 31; Danish Aziz 5-79) and 29-0 in 13 overs; OMAR ASSOCIATES 219 in 72.4 overs (Usman Khan 76, Mohtashim Ali 65; Sajjad Hussain 4-33, Asad Raza 3-68).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: NAVY 268 in 69.4 overs (Imtiaz Ali 87 not out, Owais Ahmed Rehmani 59, Wasim Ahmed 44, Hafiz Asad Baig 30; Ashar Qureshi 3-58, Mohammad Salman 3-83) and 122-4 in 43 overs (Wasim Ahmed 46 not out, Hamza Ghanchi 35; Shahzaib Ahmed Khan 4-16); CAA 240 in 80.5 overs (Haris Khanzada 100; Moazzam Malik 3-60, Raza-ul-Hasan 3-109).

Pool ‘B’:

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: PORT QASIM 347-9 declared in 76.2 overs (Atif Ali Zaidi 105, Khurram Manzoor 57, Daniyal Ahsan 53, Azam Hussain 39, Mohammad Waqas 32; Sanaullah Khan 3-44); CANDYLAND 102 in 32.4 overs (Mohammad Talha 7-38, Abdul Rauf 3-25) and 255-5 in 65 overs (Adil Akram 98 not out, Bilal Baig 52, Adnan Haroon 49).

At Rana Naved-ul-Hasan Academy, Sheikhupura: KPT 344-8 in 83 overs (Anas Mahmood 84, Ahmed Iqbal 78, Taimur Ali 59, Faraz Patel 37 not out, Shah Ali Zafar 33); AHMED GLASS 112 in 46.2 overs (Mohammad Furqan 34; Adeel Malik 6-49) and 174-6 in 45 overs (Waqas Ali 50, Safeer Azam 38; Adeel Malik 3-38).

Pool ‘C’:

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ZTBL 321 in 82.5 overs (Mohsin Nadeem 101, Raza Ali Dar 51, Gohar Hafeez 45, Usman Ashraf 37, Bilawal Iqbal 30; Anwar Ali 5-59); PIA 148 in 53.3 overs (Anwar Ali 56; Hamza Nadeem 3-45) and 73-2 in 27 overs (Shoaib Khan 33 not out).

At Army Cricket Ground, Rawalpindi: CDA 152 in 31.3 overs (Umar Abid Khan 37, Sohail Khan 33; Ahmed Khan 6-38) and 267 in 66.2 overs (Naved Malik 123, Ali Sarfraz 50, Tauseef Sarwar 31; Umair Khan 5-56); ARMY 169 in 49.3 overs (Mohammad Atif 49; Faisal Iqbal 7-34) and 57-2-10 in 25 overs.

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: OGDCL 470-3 declared in 82.2 overs: (Sohail Ahmed 200 not out, Sarmad Bhatti 100 not out, Syed Muzammil Shah 69, Moeid Sheikh 43, Mohammad Naqqash 40); PAK SAUDI 201 in 49.3 overs (Imtiaz Aslam 85, Abdul Salam 32; Mohammad Faisal 3-34, Muhammad Waqar 3-38) and 164-3 in 43 overs: (Mohammad Imran 47, Imtiaz Aslam 43 not out, Nabeel Chaudhry 31).

Pool ‘D’:

At Railway Stadium, Lahore: GHANI GLASS 400-9 in 83 overs (Tayyab Tahir 121, Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Afaq Shahid 64, Ulfat Shah 54; Sunny Azam 4-90) HEC 227 in 53.4 overs (Maaz Tamia 77 not out, Saad Mahmood 39, Subhan Khan 32; Mohammad Umar 4-55, Ali Usman 3-53) and 139-5 in 40.2 overs: (Maaz Tamia 52, Arsalan Zia 35 not out, Subhan Khan 30).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: BRIGHTO PAINTS 191 in 55.1 overs (Mohammad Idrees 44, Ali Shan 42, Akbar Badshah 32; Shahid Nawaz 6-64, Asif Raza 3-24) and 158-3 in 37.2 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 76, Wahab Dar 57); RAILWAYS 243 in 73.3 overs (Fahad-ul-Haq 104, Asif Raza 45, Zain-ul-Hasnain 34; Agha Salman 4-53, Waqas Ahmed 3-73).

Published in Dawn, March 29th, 2018