KARACHI: Pakistan Test skipper Misbah-ul-Haq continued his warm-up for the Test series against the West Indies with another sublime innings as Faisalabad took early command of their fifth and final round Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II fixture here on Thursday.

The 42-year-old, who made 111 against Hyderabad last Sunday, took the centre stage at the National Stadium where on a green-tinged track, Abbottabad could muster just 103 in their first innings.

Paceman Naseer Akram grabbed his second five-for in succession, this time taking 5-30 on 10 overs.

Faisalabad made a solid start with Ali Rafiq (160 and the impressive Abdul Samad (47 off 97 balls, seven fours) putting on 37 for the first wicket.

Misbah, arriving at 48-2, then dominated the reminder of the day with an array of handsome strokes. The right-hander’s 109-ball knock includes 13 boundaries thus far and his unbroken stand with Khurram Shehzad (24) is with 75 as Faisalabad reached 178-3.

In the other Group ‘B’ match at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad, Quetta were 55-1 after hosts Hyderabad were restricted to 220 all out in 60.1 overs.

Multan collected 137-2 after dismissing Bahawalpur for 190 at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan. Opener Zain Abbas was batting on an 80-ball 70 (12 fours).

Earlier slow left-armer Ali Usman captured six wickets for 50 runs.

Sialkot, who top Group ‘A’, were surprisingly in trouble as they slid to 35-2 after Azad Jammu Kashmir made 287-8 in the allotted 83 overs at the Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur.

Close of play scores on Thursday (day one of three):

Fifth round:

Group ‘A’:

At Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur: AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 287-8 in 83 overs (Usman Maroof 72, Azhar Mughal 67, Ikram Hussain 50, Naved Malik 49; Mansoor Amjad 4-89, Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti 4-103); SIALKOT 35-2 in 8 overs (Faisal Khaliq 2-4).

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: BAHAWALPUR 190 in 63 overs (Imranullah Aslam 49, Jawwad Ahmed 47, Mudassar Nazir 28, Adeel Basit 26; Ali Usman 6-50, Sohaib Maqsood 2-8, Sadaif Mehdi 2-55); MULTAN 137-2 in 25 overs (Zain Abbas 70 not out, Waqar Hussain 28).

Group ‘B’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: ABBOTTABAD 103 in 36.5 overs (Riaz Kail 23, Nasir Khan 21 not out; Naseer Akram 5-30, Ahmed Safi 2-10, Waqas Maqsood 2-24); FAISALABAD 178-3 in 51 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 82 not out, Abdul Samad 47, Khurram Shehzad 24 not out; Ikramullah Khan 2-52).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: HYDERABAD 220 in 60.1 overs (Shoaib Leghari 46, Azeem Ghumman 35, Nauman Ali 29, Mohammad Awais 29, Mir Darya Khan 26; Bakhtiar Shah 4-52, Gohar Faiz 2-45, Hamal Wahab 2-57, Sher Ai 2-63); QUETTA 55-1 in 27 overs (Bismillah Khan 29 not out).

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2017