Nauman stars as Northern thump Sindh for first victory
KARACHI: Inspired by incisive spin bowling from stand-in skipper Nauman Ali, Northern outgunned Sindh by 145 runs to celebrate first victory at the seventh attempt during the First Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture at the National Stadium here on Thursday.
A sporting declaration left Sindh requiring 345 from a possible 78 overs. But the visitors continued their domination for the fourth successive day to dismiss Sindh for 199 in 55.5 overs just over an hour into the last session of the match.
The writing was always on the cards once Sindh slipped to 127-7. Even captain Sarfraz Ahmed’s choice of promoting himself to No.4 failed to inspire his team. The former Pakistan skipper mustered just 16 runs off 23 balls before being bowled by a seaming delivery from all-rounder Hammad Azam.
Opener Khurram Manzoor perished for a 62-ball 35 — trapped LBW while trying to sweep Nauman — and the vastly-experienced Fawad Alam was caught behind off Hammad for a six-ball duck after having top-scored with 107 in the first innings.
Anwar Ali, who scored 69 in the first innings, batted the longest in an abject batting display for the hosts. The discarded Pakistan all-rounder was stumped by Jamal Anwar off Nauman after making 32 off 71 balls in 97 minutes.
Northern’s thoroughly deserved success was delayed by a spirited 60-ball innings of 54 (nine boundaries) from ex-Pakistan paceman Sohail Khan, who was last man to be dismissed when he was caught by Nauman to give part-time leg-spinner Faizan Riaz a rare wicket.
Nauman followed up his first-innings haul of 5-58 with 4-51 in 16 overs, giving him match bag of 9-109 from 39 overs. The 33-year-old from Sanghar also is the highest wicket-taker in the competition with 36 (ave20.83) from only six matches.
Earlier in the morning young opener Zeeshan Malik failed to add to his overnight score of 96 when left-arm paceman Mir Hamza forced him to edge a catch to Sarfraz behind the timbers.
Resuming at 173-2, Northern 89 in just 10 overs before Nauman applied closure to their second innings at 262-4. The skipper bludgeoned a 15-ball 32 (two sixes and two sixes) and Hammad banged four fours and two sixes in his 24-ball 39 during their breezy unfinished stand of 58.
The result left Sindh replacing Northern at the bottom of the six-team standings.
Meanwhile, the remaining two matches concluded in inevitable draws. The weather-plagued clash at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium died a natural death as only 26.3 overs were delivered on the final day and the entire game lasted 217.2 overs out of the total of 360 — meaning 122.4 overs were lost to bad light.
In the brief period of action, Central Punjab extended their Wednesday’s score of 255-6 to 324-9 while replying to Balochistan’s 450. Usman Salahuddin added 20 more runs before falling LBW to occasional leg-spin of the visiting captain Imran Farhat for 94 (177 balls, 11 boundaries).
Another man to miss out the three-figure landmark was Southern Punjab’s Zeeshan Ashraf, who hit up a quickfire 94 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Abbottabad with his 112-ball knock including nine fours and ix sixes before Fakhar Zaman’s part-time left-arm spin sent him back.
While luck deserted both Usman and Zeeshan, discarded Test opener Sami Aslam further consolidated his No.1 spot in the championship’s batting chart with a fourth century. The 23-year-old diminutive left-hander accumulated an undefeated 150 (254 balls, 15 fours and three sixes) — while crossing the century-mark for the third straight match — to take his tally to 833 runs in just 10 innings at a mindboggling average of 138.83.
Southern Punjab, who started the day at 15-0, eventually posted 337-5 declared in their second before the game was called off early at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium.
Scores and results on Thursday (final day of four):
First XI:
Seventh round:
At National Stadium, Karachi: Northern beat Sindh by 145 runs.
NORTHERN 408 in 93.2 overs (Faizan Riaz 211, Ali Sarfraz 60, Hammad Azam 59, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 49; Sohail Khan 3-89, Mir Hamza 3-92, Hassaan Khan 2-49, Tabish Khan 2-84) and 262-4 declared in 53 overs (Zeeshan Malik 96, Faizan Riaz 41, Hammad Azam 39 not out, Nauman Ali 32 not out, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 29, Umar Amin 21; Mir Hamza 2-72); SINDH 326 in 105.5 overs (Fawad Alam 107, Shahzar Mohammad 74, Anwar Ali 69, Saad Ali 23, Sarfraz Ahmed 22; Nauman Ali 5-58, Sadaf Hussain 2-50) and 199 in 55.5 overs (Sohail Khan 54, Khurram Manzoor 35, Anwar Ali 32; Nauman Ali 4-51, Hammad Azam 2-18).
At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: Match drawn.
BALOCHISTAN 450 in 124.1 overs (Imran Butt 137, Imran Farhat 87, Azeem Ghumman 72, Awais Zia 44, Taimur Khan 37, Hussain Talat 24, Umar Gul 20; Aizaz Cheema 5-100, Mohammad Ali 3-72); CENTRAL PUNJAB 324-9 in 93.1 overs (Usman Salahuddin 94, Umar Akmal 78, Salman Butt 47, Zafar Gohar 39; Mohammad Asghar 3-109, Imran Farhat 2-16).
At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: Match drawn.
SOUTHERN PUNJAB 338 in 100.3 overs (Umar Siddique 88, Sohaib Maqsood 57, Agha Salman 45Sami Aslam 38, Zeeshan Ashraf 25; Ahmed Jamal 6-93, Junaid Khan 2-89) and 337-5 declared in 81 overs (Sami Aslam 150 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Sohaib Maqsood 38, Agha Salman 24 not out; Irfanullah Shah 3-33); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 417-5 declared in 113 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 143, Rehan Afridi 84 not out, Zohaib Khan 63 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 47, Adil Amin 37, Fakhar Zaman 23; Umaid Asif 3-142).
Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2019
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