KARACHI: Former Pakistan captain Salman Butt registered the third double century of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first-class competition as the opener hit up 237 on Sunday to drive Central Punjab into a commanding position against Balochistan on day two of their third-round encounter in Quetta.

The left-hander, who began the day on 152 in his team’s overnight tally of 338-5, was the only wicket to fall before skipper Azhar Ali declared Central Punjab’s first innings at 521-6 — a score that also included a maiden century from Zafar Gohar.

By stumps at the halfway stage of the four-day game at the Bugti Stadium, hosts Balochistan were in the mire at 119-5 with two of the wickets claimed by rising pace-bowling sensation Nasim Shah, who has so far returned figures of 2-22 from 10 overs.

But the day belonged to Salman and Zafar, who extended their partnership to 205 before Salman provided Test leg-spinner Yasir Shah his third wicket of the innings. Salman’s 376-ball innings spanned 549 minutes and included 35 overs. Zafar, whose previous best first-class score was 76, reached exactly 100 off 139 balls in 189 minutes while striking 14 fours and three sixes.

Yasir delivered as many as 45 overs and took 3-163.

Bad weather disrupted play in the other fixtures. Northern advanced from 86-3 to 281-9 as 60.4 overs of play was possible at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi with Rohail Nazir (67) and Hammad Azam (58) emerging as the chief run-getters.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced just 15.1 overs during which they collected 48 runs to post 174-1 against Southern Punjab at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad. Resuming at 126-0, the home team lost skipper Sahibzada Farhan for 78 but his opening Israrullah is still going strong with 77 under his belt.

Close of play scores on Sunday (day two of four):

At Bugti Stadium, Quetta: CENTRAL PUNJAB 521-6 in 122.2 overs (Salman Butt 237, Azhar Ali 123, Zafar Gohar 100 not out, Kamran Akmal 24; Yasir Shah 3-163); BALOCHISTAN 119-5 in 46 overs (Imran Butt 33, Bismillah Khan 23 not out, Hussain Talat 21 not out; Nasim Shah 2-22).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: NORTHERN 271-9 in 101.4 overs (Rohail Nazir 67, Hammad Azam 58, Umar Waheed 35, Haider Ali 26,Nauman Ali 21; Kashif Bhatti 3-51, Sohail Khan 2-60, Tabish Khan 2-70) vs SINDH.

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 174-1 in 48 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 78, Israrullah 77 not out) vs SOUTHERN PUNJAB.

Published in Dawn, September 30th, 2019