KARACHI: Zone-VI made swift work of Zone-I to complete a much-required victory over Zone-I on Friday to put themselves among title contenders in the PCB Regional Inter-district Senior (Karachi region) Cricket Tournament.

Zone-I, who were 76-4, folded up for just 98 in the second innings on the final morning of their fifth-round fixture at the TMC Ground to enable Zone-VI to record an innings and 18 runs victory.

Skipper Faraz Ahmed Khan claimed four wickets for 33 runs with seam bowler Salman Zaib taking 3-33.

With 10 points earned from this second win, Zone-VI now move up to second in the seven-team standings just two points behind Zone-VII, who also emerged winners on Friday.

By virtue of defeating Zone-IV by eight wickets, Zone-VII have 21 points from five matches but they have played one game more than Zone-VI.

After bowling out for 157 in 67 overs with Raza-ul-Hasan finishing with nine wickets in the match, including 4-66 in the second innings, Zone-VII romped to victory by reaching 156-2 in just 29.4 overs.

Owais Ahmed Rehman was the standout performer with a magnificent 99 studded with 11 boundaries. Hamza Ghanchi slammed five fours in making 42.

Zone-II, meanwhile, had to settle for just three points as Zone-V held them to a draw at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground.

Resuming their second innings at 98-0, Zone-II reached 221 all out with Ahmer bin Nasir contributing a splendid 92 off 145 balls with the aid of 13 fours. Naved Khan scored 55 with five fours and one six.

Off-spinner Moazzam Malik picked up six wickets for 46 runs, while slow left-armer Mohammad Salman took 4-66.

Batting a second time, Zone-V collected 108-3 in 28 overs in the remaining time with Sohaib Shakeel scoring 47 with four fours and one six.

Scores and results on Friday (final day of three):

Fifth-round:

At TMC Ground, Karachi: Zone-VI beat Zone-I by an innings and 18 runs.

ZONE-I 145 in 75.3 overs (Ahmed Iqbal 59, Hafiz Asad Baig 27, Zeeshan Haider 23; Faraz Ahmed Khan 6-41, Ghulam Mudassar 2-16) and 98 in 37.2 overs (Zakir Ali 19; Faraz Ahmed Khan 4-33, Salman Zaib 3-33, Salman Khan 2-11); ZONE-VI 261-8 declared in 75.2 overs (Faraz Ali 123, Saeed Mutabir 49, Faraz Ahmed Khan 38; Ahmed Iqbal 3-76, Khurram Shahzad 2-23, Mirza Ahsan Jameel 2-74).

At Lawai Cricket Ground (Naya Nazimabad), Karachi: Zone-VII beat Zone-IV by eight wickets.

ZONE-IV 229 in 79.1 overs (Daniyal Ahsan 68, Haris Ali Khan 58, Azam Hussain 34; Mansoor Ahmed 5-58, Raza-ul-Hasan 5-119) and 157 in 67 overs (Azam Hussain 36, Tauheed Khan 34, Haris Ali Khan 27, Yasir Mushtaq 22; Raza-ul-Hasan 4-66, Bilal Javed 3-19, Mansoor Ahmed 2-41); ZONE-VII 231-9 in 83 overs (Hamza Ghanchi 83, Owais Ahmed Rehman 76 not out, Amit Ravi 29; Sohaib Khan 5-70, Azam Hussain 3-108) and 156-2 in 29.4 overs (Owais Ahmed Rehmani 99, Hamza Ghanchi 42).

At Landhi Gymkhana Ground, Karachi: Match drawn.

ZONE-II 267-9 in 83 overs (Rao Waqar 112, Adeel Malik 37, Junaid Naeem 31, Naveed Khan 24; Maroof Aziz 4-53, Mohammad Salman 2-52) and 221 in 63 overs (Ahmer bin Nasir 92, Naved Khan 55; Moazzam Malik 6-46, M. Salman 4-66); ZONE-V 217 in 75 overs (Wasim Ahmed 82, Mohammad Sadiq 24, Zain Anwar 24; Junaid Naeem 4-41, Fahaddis Bukhari 2-12, Wajid Saleem 2-61) and 106-3 in 28 overs (Sohaib Shakeel 47, Arsalan Bashir 26; Junaid Naeem 2-37).

Published in Dawn, August 6th, 2016