KARACHI: Rawalpindi required just 38.3 overs to get the remaining eight wickets Faisalabad lost in their second innings to seal the PCB Inter-region Under-19 (Three-day) cricket title with well over a day to spare in Mirpur on Wednesday.

Resuming at the overnight score of 51-2 at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Azad Kashmir, Faisalabad folded up for 195 to hand Rawalpindi victory by an innings and two runs on the penultimate day of the four-day title-decider.

Opener Abdul Samad offered solitary fight with a defiant knock of 81. His 168-ball effort, lasing 258 minutes, included 14 boundaries.

Mohammad Waqar grabbed five wickets for 90 runs in 32.4 overs, while fellow paceman Mohammad Haroon captured three for 53 in 21 overs.

Nasir Nawaz, who scored 121 in Rawalpindi’s total of 330-6 on Tuesday, was adjudged man-of-the-match as well as best batsman of the competition with 637 runs.

Asad Raza, the Faisalabad paceman was declared the best bowler for 42 wickets, while Karachi Blues’ Ashar Qureshi bagged the best all-rounder award for scoring 205 runs and taking 30 wickets.

Jubilant Rawalpindi skipper Umair Masood received the winners’ trophy and cash prize of Rs600,000 while his Faisalabad counterpart Mohammad Shahid Khan collected Rs300,000 along with the runners-up trophy from chief guest Ansar Maqsood, the deputy commissioner of Mirpur.

Scores and result on Wednesday (day three of four):

Rawalpindi beat Faisalabad by an innings and two runs.

FAISALABAD 133 in 43.3 overs (Mohammad Mishal Khan 35, Abdul Samad 18, Mohammad Shahid Khan 16, Mohammad Saleem 15; Nasir Nawaz 3-23, Ibrar Zaman 3-45, Mohammad Waqar 2-21) and 195 in 70.4 overs (Abdul Samad 81, Ali Raza 26, Asad Raza 20; Mohammad Waqar 5-90, Mohammad Haroon 3-53); RAWALPINDI 330-6 in 83 overs (Nasir Nawaz 121, Umair Masood 102 not out, Usman Haider 64; Mohammad Ibtesam 2-65, Asad Raza 2-88).

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2016