KARACHI, July 25: South Zone and Central Zone Blues reached the final of the Women’s National Twenty20 Quadrangular Championship after beating their respective opponents at the Quaid-i-Azam Cricket Park on Friday.

The first match between South Zone and Central Zone Greens was won by the local team when they easily reached their target of 75 runs in 16 overs with seven wickets in hand.

The toss was won by South who decided to put Greens — comprising players from Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi — in to bat first. But the fall of wickets at regular intervals saw Greens never quite able to pick up their falling run rate with none of their batswomen making a significant contribution to the score. Shumaila Mushtaq with a fine 20 remained the highest scorer in their side.

Meanwhile South’s bowlers recorded impressive bowling figures. Left-arm spinner Kanwal Naz grabbed three wickets while giving away just nine runs in her four-over spell. The remaining wickets were shared equally by Sumaiya Khan, Masooma Junaid, Javeria Khan and skipper Urooj Mumtaz Khan who were well supported by their agile wicketkeeper Batool Fatima behind the stumps.

It appeared that Greens could come back in the match when they pulled off early dismissals of South openers Nain Abidi (5) and Sana Mir (3), both sent off by Greens’ captain Asmavia Iqbal. However, South were able to reach their target rather comfortably in the end due to a superb partnership between Urooj and Javeria which was worth 51 runs. Javeria Khan was declared Woman of the Match.

The second match between Central Zone Blues and North Zone, another low-scoring encounter, saw North winning the toss and electing to bat first. The run-making was slow here too after all the batswomen, with the exception of Salma Faiz who contributed a brisk 29, failed to make their mark, giving Blues a target of 90 runs which they easily reached in 11.3 overs.

Bismah Maroof and Zeba Manzoor put up a match-winning partnership of 75 runs which also included Bismah’s second half century in the tournament.

But the young opener remained lucky during her knock, thanks to a controversial not out decision by the leg umpire after Bismah was caught at deep backward point by Naila Nazir besides a dropped catch by Hina Shafique, also near the covers.

Bismah’s magnificent 54, included three fours and came off 38 balls. Her partner Zeba was later caught by Wajiha Sundus off North’s captain Qanita Jalil for a responsible 27. Bismah Maroof was named Woman of the Match.

The final between South Zone and Central Zone Blues will be played at the National Stadium, Karachi on Sunday at 3.30pm.

Summarised scores: