KARACHI: Long-discarded Pakistan seamer Aizaz Cheema grabbed a five-for as PIA skittle out Brighto Paints for just 91 in their first innings on an eventful opening day of the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament final in Islamabad on Tuesday.

But PIA also suffered a batting collapse in the second half of play at the Diamond Club Ground to end day one of the four-day fixture at 150-9.

Skipper Akbar Badshah elected to bat first after winning the toss and it seemed a wise move as openers Waqas Saleem and Mohammad Idrees shared a partnership of 42.

But once Aizaz was introduced into the attack second change, Brighto Paints innings went haywire as 10 wickets fell for the addition of just 49 runs.

Aizaz caused the slide by dismissing Waqas (15 off 31 balls, three fours), Mohammad Waheed (0), Idrees (29 off 47, five boundaries) and Salman Ali Agha (0) in his opening spell of seven overs.

Akbar hung around for 51 deliveries but made only 12 before falling to left-arm paceman Najaf Shah for 12.

Ali imran Pasha, who took the new ball alongside Najaf, claimed three wickets until Aizaz returned to terminate innings and finishing with brilliant figures of 5-18 in 9.4 overs. Ali took 3-38 in 12 overs, while Najaf (1-19) and captain Kamran Sajid (1-13) shared the remaining two wickets.

PIA, in reply, lost Ubaidullah (9) and Shoaib Khan (3) with the total on 44. Kamran and Fahad Iqbal then put on 72 for the third wicket before their side lost the next seven wickets for the addition of just 34 runs.

Kamran was bowled by paceman Ahmed Bashir for a 91-ball 45 that included seven fours. Fahad contributed 49 while hitting eight boundaries in his 56-ball knock.

Brighto Paints spearhead Waqas Ahmed was chiefly responsible for PIA’s batting predicament as the right-arm speedster ended the day with figures of 4-60 in 13 overs.

Ahmed Bashir didn’t lag behind either, while picking up 3-42 in 12 overs. Among his victims was Pakistan wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed who scored 11 from 13 balls with a solitary boundary.

Scoreboard

BRIGHTO PAINTS (1st Innings):

Waqas Saleem c and b Aizaz 15 Mohammad Idrees b Aizaz 29 Mohammad Waheed c Sarfraz b Aizaz 0 Akbar Badshah c Shoaib b Najaf 12
Raza Ali Dar c Sarfraz b Kamran 1 Salman Ali Agha lbw b Aizaz 0 Kamran Hussain c Shoaib b Ali Imran 12 Farhan Khan c Najaf b Ali Imran 0 Faisal Rasheed c Kamran b Ali Imran 6 Waqas Ahmed c Fahad b Aizaz 12 Ahmed Bashir not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-3) 3

TOTAL (all out, 38.4 overs) 91

FALL OF WKTS: 1-42, 2-42, 3-47, 4-52, 5-53, 6-66, 7-66, 8-71, 9-77.

BOWLING: Najaf Shah 9-5-19-1; Ali Imran Pasha 12-4-38-3; Kamran Sajid 7-5-13-1; Aizaz Cheema 9.4-1-18-5; Tahir Khan 1-1-0-0.

PIA (1st Innings):

Kamran Sajid b Ahmed 45 Ubaidullah c Salman b Faisal 9 Shoaib Khan run out 3 Fahad Iqbal c Idrees b Waqas 49 Faisal Iqbal c Faisal b Waqas 1 Shaharyar Ghani c Raza b Ahmed 3 Sarfraz Ahmed c Faisal b Ahmed 11 Tahir Khan c Farhan b Waqas 5
Ali Imran Pasha not out 2 Najaf Shah b Waqas 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-7, NB-7) 22

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 38 overs) 150

FALL OF WKTS: 1-27, 2-44, 3-116, 4-116, 5-121, 6-136, 7-141, 8-141, 9-150.

TO BAT: Aizaz Cheema.

BOWLING (to-date): Waqas Ahmed 13-2-60-4 (7nb, 7w); Faisal Rasheed 13-4-40-1; Ahmed Bashir 12-1-42-3.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Mohammad Sajid Afridi. 

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed.          

OFFICIAL SCORER: Zafar Yasir.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2016