KARACHI: Karachi Blues and Faisalabad emerged early winners in the opening round of the PCB Inter-region Under-19 three-day competition on Sunday, winning their group matches respectively inside two days.

Karachi Blues defeated Fata by eight wickets here at the TMC Ground with slow left-armer Tariq Khan starring with match figures of 10 wickets for 81 runs, including 5-53 in Fata’s second innings of 140 all out. Fellow left-armer Nadir Shah bagged match haul of 7-93.

Faisalabad — riding on centuries from Awais Zafar (126 off 92 balls, 15 fours and seven sixes) and Zohaib Amanat (124 off 176, 15 fours and four sixes) — romped to a clinical 10-wicket rout of Lahore Whites at the Bohranwali Ground in Faisalabad.

Spinner Suleman Shafqat also played a pivotal role by taking nine wickets in the game.

Close of play scores and results on Sunday (day two of three):

Group ‘A’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: MULTAN 88 in 50.5 overs (Mohammad 5-23, Fahad Hasan 3-21) and 193-6 in 76 overs (Azhar Aslam 67 not out, Mohammad Ali Aslam 30 not out; Fahad Hasan 4-48); DERA MURAD JAMALI 362-8 in 83 overs (Mohammad Shahid 99, Fahad Hussain 65 not out, Shahab Bahar 57, Mohammad 43, Shoaib Ahmed 41; Mohammad Huzaifa 3-95, Mohammad Ali Aslam 2-22, Sharjeel Umar 2-74).

At TMC Ground, Karachi: Karachi Blues beat Fata by eight wickets.

FATA 108 in 68.1 overs (Mohammad Wasim 30; Tariq Khan 5-28, Nadir Shah 4-38) and 140 in 65 overs (Nisar Faraz 41; Tariq Khan 5-53, Nadir Shah 3-55); KARACHI BLUES 166 in 52.1 overs (Haris Bin Tahir 69, Obaisullah Khan 27; Saad Nazir 4-35, Mohammad Wasim 4-44) and 83-2 in 16.3 overs (Ghazi Nasir 39 not out, Zaryab Umar 34 not out).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: QUETTA 185 in 59.3 overs (Wahid Bangulzai Ahmed 48, Junaid Khan 39, Latifullah 27; Mohammad Asad 4-50, Nauman Akbar 2-37) and 124-4 in 42 overs (Rasheed Ahmed 32 not out, Abdul Wahid 31; Mohammad Asad 3-58); ABBOTTABAD 317 in 78 overs (Khayyam Khan 113, Afaq Ahmed 107; Akhtar Shah 4-30, Wahid Bangulzai 4-64).

Group ‘B’:

At Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala: HYDERABAD 229 in 67 overs (Saud Jaffri 62, Rafay Siddique 30; Abdullah Nawaz 4-67, Ghulam Mohiuddin 3-18) and 30-3 in 31 overs; SIALKOT 317-9 in 83 overs (Haroon Ahmed 58, Asher Bhatti 48, Umar Shafiq 41; Asim Ali 3-64, Hasan Ali 3-68, Mustafa Nasir 2-51).

At National Ground, Islamabad: BAHAWALPUR 234 in 83 overs (Ali Imran 78, Mohammad Junaid 47; Zain-ul-Abedin 5-67, Haroon Wahid 2-44) and 119-8 (Ali Imran 41; Zain-ul-Abedin 4-34, Mohammad Musa 2-16); ISLAMABAD 101 in 52.2 overs ( Zahid Iqbal 27, Jawwad Ahmed 22; Mohammad Hamza 4-13, Muzammil Khan 4-24).

At Gohati Cricket Ground, Swabi: LAHORE BLUES 310-7 in 83 overs (Attyab Ahmed 80, Ibtisam-ul-Haq 72, Saad Ali Refai 41; Mohammad Aamir 2-43) and 60-2 in 17.5 overs (Niaz Khan 2-9); PESHAWAR 271 in 82.4 overs (Mohammad Mohsin Khan 104, Mukhtar Ahmed 47 not out, Awais Ali Shah 31; Mohammad Bilal Khan 4-98, Ibtisam-ul-Haq 2-48).

Group ‘C’:

At Bohranwali Ground, Faisalabad: Faisalabad beat Lahore Whites by 10 wickets.

LAHORE WHITES 222 in 52.5 overs (Shafay Malik 65, Hasan Dar 50, Ahmed Butt 31; Bilal Javed 5-80, Suleman Shafqat 5-108) and 153 in 40.1 overs (Ahmed Butt 61, Muaz Khan 37; Bilal Javed 5-55, Suleman Shafqat 4-71); FAISALABAD 367 in 75.2 overs (Awais Zafar 126, Zohaib Amanat 124, Irfan Khan 38; Faridoun Mahmood 3-73, Danish Ali 3-102, Faizan Rasool 2-19, Mohammad Arsalan 2-40) and 10-0 in 1.4 overs.

At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: RAWALPINDI 274-7 in 83 overs (Ziad Khan 88, Mubashir Khan 75; Arish Ali Khan 3-58); KARACHI WHITES 266-9 in 75 overs (Mohammad Taha 104, Ammar Iqbal 59, Saim Ayub 38; Shiraz Khan 3-65, Ziad Khan 2-13, Mohammad Ajmal 2-30).

At Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Mirpur: LARKANA 51 in 29.5 overs (Mohsin Iqbal 4-21, Zaman Khan 3-18, Usama Khalid 2-7) and 128 in 54 overs (Ishfaq Ahmed 30; Mohsin Iqbal 3-24, Najam Naseer 3-26, Usama Khalid 2-19) ; AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 72 in 27 overs (Zulfiqar Haider 4-11, Javed Ali Khoso 3-22, Abdul Fateh 2-4) and 66-5 in 44 overs (Zohaib Bukhari 33; Amir Ali 3-17).

Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2018