KARACHI: Discarded Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor led a splendid Karachi Whites recovery with a resolute century against SSGCL on day one of the second-round fixture at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

The 32-year-old right-hander, who has played in 16 Tests, seven ODIs and three T20 Internationals, reached his 24th first-class century while engineering his team’s comeback after the regional outfit was struggling at 71-4.

Together with Mohammad Hasan — who also completed a fine century of his own — Khurram shared in a fifth wicket partnership of 204 that eventually guided Karachi Whites to 329-8 after SSGCL captain Umar Amin decided to field first at the toss.

Khurram fell to spinner Kashif Bhatti after making 108 from 215 balls in 317 minutes with the aid of 15 boundaries.

Ex-Pakistan paceman Aizaz Cheema takes 6-57

Hasan, the wicket-keeper/batsman, contributed an enterprising 125 — the 27-year-old’s fourth ton at this level — off 163 deliveries while striking 17 fours.

Another opener to excel was Imran Butt who compiled a painstaking 111 (off 245 balls in 331 minutes with 14 fours and one six) to enable defending champions SNGPL post a commanding 322-5 after skipper Mohammad Hafeez chose to bat against Fata at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium.

However, Hafeez failed to get going when he was caught by seamer Adnan Ghaus off his own bowling for just four. But Test star Asad Shafiq hit 52 (102 balls, eight boundaries) as he and Imran added 85 for the third wicket before another Pakistan reject Iftikhar Ahmed arrived to put on 139 with Imran.

Iftikhar was still at the crease with 94 off 123 balls with 12 fours and one six at close of play.

HBL found the going tough when they were dismissed for 228 in their first innings by Peshawar at the KRL Stadium with leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood taking four wickets for 59 runs.

Peshawar went to stumps at 28-1 in reply.

Left-handed Ali Asad scored a patient unbeaten 93 (237 balls, seven fours) to guide NBP to 221-5 after Lahore Whites put them into bat at the LCCA Ground in Lahore.

Hosts Multan also had to fight for runs when batted through 90 overs for just a modest tally of 214-5 after Wapda captain Salman Butt decided to field first at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

ZTBL managed a disappointing total of 173 all out, after being put in, but hit back strongly to leave Rawalpindi in deep trouble at 63-6 at the Pindi Cricket Stadium with paceman Mohammad Ali having claimed 4-12 in nine overs thus far.

Earlier debutant paceman Syed Tauseeq Shah starred for the home side with figures of 4-49 in 18 overs.

PTV suffered an inexplicable batting debacle against Lahore Blues, who had won the toss, when they were sent packing for 261 after being 226-2 as former Pakistan paceman Aizaz Cheema captured six wickets for 57 runs in 15.2 overs at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Mohammad Waqas excelled for PTV with a brisk 101 (114 balls, 11 fours and four sixes), while putting on 113 for the third-wicket stand with skipper Saud Shakeel (52 off 100, five boundaries).

But Lahore Blues themselves were in bother at 43-2 with both wickets falling to fast bowler Tabish Khan.

On an action-packed day at the Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital, as many as 16 wickets tumbled. After being put into bat, Islamabad were dismissed for 88 with the new-ball pairing of Sadaf Hussain (3-40) and Ahmed Bashir (6-26 in 12.3 overs) sharing the wickets.

It was then KRL’s turn to face the music and by stumps they had moved to 123-6 with Usman Arshad batting on 47.

Close of play scores on Saturday (day one of four):

Second round:

Pool ‘A’:

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: NBP 221-5 in 90 overs (Ali Asad 93 not out, Rameez Raja 31, Danish Aziz 28, Kamran Ghulam 24; Mohammad Irfan 3-66) vs LAHORE WHITES.

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: HBL 228 in 73.3 overs (Abid Ali 71, Amad Butt 46, Imran Farhat 30; Zahid Mahmood 4-59, Taj Wali 2-45, Sajid Khan 2-61); PESHAWAR 28-1 in 14 overs.

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ISLAMABAD 88 in 38.3 overs (Ali Sarfraz 25; Ahmed Bashir 6-26, Sadaf Hussain 3-40); KRL 123-6 in 39 overs (Usman Arshad 47 not out, Azeem Ghumman 26; Mohammad Hamza Nadeem 3-37, Shehzad Azam Rana 2-32).

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: SNGPL 322-5 in 90 overs (Imran Butt 111, Iftikhar Ahmed 94 not out, Asad Shafiq 52; Adnan Ghaus 2-75) vs FATA.

Pool ‘B’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: KARACHI WHITES 329-8 in 90 overs (Mohammad Hasan 125, Khurram Manzoor 108, Saad Ali 30, Anwar Ali 30 not out; Kashif Bhatti 3-78, Ahmed Jamal 2-90) vs SSGCL.

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: MULTAN 214-5 in 90 overs (Imran Rafiq 65, Usman Liaquat 43, Ahmer Ashfaq 38 not out, Waqar Hussain 31; Waqar Malik 2-39) vs WAPDA.

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: PTV 261 in 70.2 overs (Mohammad Waqas 101, Mohammad Yasin 54, Saud Shakeel 52; Aizaz Cheema 6-57); LAHORE BLUES 43-2 in 14 overs (Rizwan Hussain 29; Tabish Khan 2-14).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: ZTBL 173 in 56 overs (Anas Mustafa 55, Haris Majeed 46; Syed Tauseeq Shah 4-49, Haseeb Azam 3-25); RAWALPINDI 53-6 in 25 overs (Mohammad Ali 4-12).

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2018