KARACHI: Faisalabad were in sight of another emphatic win in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament on Friday as Abbottabad again ran into problems after Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq registered a second successive century here at the National Stadium.

Replying to Abbottabad’s 103 all out, Faisalabad reached 313 after resuming day two of the three-day Group ‘B’ fixture at 178-3. The 42-year-old Misbah followed up his 111 against Hyderabad last Sunday by converting his overnight score of 82 to 133. The skipper’s 187-ball innings was embedded with 15 boundaries and a brace of sixes in 246 minutes while his fourth-wicket partnership with Khurram Shehzad (39) yielded 99 runs.

Batting in their second innings, Abbottabad limped to 197-8 and still require 14 runs to make their formidable opponents bat again.

In the other Group ‘B’ match at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad, the hosts were also sensing victory after Quetta slumped to 15-1 in pursuit of a challenging 321-run target.

Multan were in commanding position by amassing 460-8 in 83 while responding to Bahawalpur’s first-innings tally of 190 at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan. Opener Zain Abbas, who began the day on 70, compiled 142 off 195 balls with the aid 22 boundaries.

But impetus was provided by discarded Pakistan batsman Sohaib Maqsood (97 off 90 balls, 10 fours and two sixes) and Abdul Rehman Muzammil (90 off 72, 10 fours and four sixes).

Batting again, Bahawalpur were 98-3 at draw of stumps.

Azad Jammu Kashmir earned an unexpected 69-run lead on the first innings by bowling out Group ‘A’ leaders Sialkot for 218 at the Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur.

AJK then reached 101-5 in the second innings to have an overall lead of 170 runs.

Close of play scores on Friday (day two 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) and 101-5 in 35 overs (Naved Malik 47, Abdul Shakoor 25 not out; Adil Raza 2-6, Mansoor Amjad 2-43); SIALKOT 218 in 60.2 overs (Ayaz Tasawwar 76, Naved Sarwar 47, Ahsan Hafeez Bhatti 26, Haider Ali 21, Naved Malik 5-21, Faisal Khaliq 2-19, Abdul Shakoor 2-64).

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) and 98-3 in 25 overs (Maaz Taimia 36, Mudassar Nazir 30 not out; Sadaif Mehdi 2-27); MULTAN 460-8 in 83 overs (Zain Abbas 142, Sohaib Maqsood 97, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 90, Imran Rafiq 36, Waqar Hussain 28; Mazhar Bashir 3-99, Imranullah Aslam 3-117).

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) and 197-8 in 51 overs (Hammad Ali Shah 62, Sohail Akhtar 47, Riaz Kail 23; Ahmed Safi 4-51, Waqas Maqsood 3-48); FAISALABAD 313 in 83 overs (Misbah-ul-Haq 133, Abdul Samad 47, Khurram Shehzad 39, Ali Shan 25; Sohail Akhtar 4-94, Ikramullah Khan 3-32, Khalid Usman 2-82).

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) and 238 in 44.3 overs (Mir Darya Khan 90, Rizwan Ahmed 44, Haris Khan 23, Zeeshan Gul 20; Hamal Wahab 7-91); QUETTA 138 in 59 overs (Bismillah Khan 31, Mohammad Ilyas 27, Rameez Raja 25; Nasir Awais 6-70, Nauman Ali 4-49).

Published in Dawn, March 25th, 2017