KARACHI, Oct 25: A fighting unbeaten century by Usman Saeed rescued Federal Areas from deep trouble against Sindh on a fluctuating opening day of the Pentangular Cup match here at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Usman struck 103 to help Federal Areas closed at 270 for nine after Sindh skipper Shahid Afridi chose to field first in the four-day fixture. Without Usman’s rearguard action, Federal Areas would have been long bowled out after having lost half their side for 88 runs.

Pakistan all-rounder Sohail Tanvir also played a vital hand and helped Usman put on 73 for the seventh wicket in 91 minutes after Yasir Arafat (27) had added 67 for the preceding wicket with Usman, who has thus far occupied the crease for 275 minutes.

Umar Amin was the only other Federal Areas batsman to weather the early storm. The youngster batted patiently to contribute 48 in 156 minutes after opener Umair Khan was bowled by lanky speedster Sohail Khan for a duck.

Umar’s 93-ball vigil saw him strike six boundaries until he became one of the five victims for medium-pacer Tanvir Ahmed, easily the pick of Sindh bowlers.

Tanvir was on a hat-trick when he removed Sohail Tanvir (45 off 74 balls, seven fours) and Naeem Anjum on successive deliveries, but Federal Areas skipper Rao Iftikhar denied him that opportunity.

Usman registered his first-class career’s fifth century when he late cut Afridi to the third-man boundary in the last over of the day. In all, Usman has negotiated 186 balls and laced his splendid innings with 14 fours.

Tanvir Ahmed ended the day with five for 53 with Sohail Khan and Anwar Ali, who limped off with a hamstring problem late in the day, sharing the remaining wickets.

Scoreboard

FEDERAL AREAS (1st Innings):

Raheel Majeed c Faisal b Tanvir 15

Umair Khan b Sohail 0

Umar Amin lbw b Tanvir 48

Bazid Khan c Sarfraz b Anwar 6

Naveed Qureshi c Khalid b Anwar 0

Usman Saeed not out 103

Yasir Arafat c Sarfraz b Tanvir 27

Sohail Tanvir c Fawad b Tanvir 45

Naeem Anjum b Tanvir 0

Rao Iftikhar c Sarfraz b Sohail 9

Shoaib Akhtar not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-9, NB-7) 16

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 90 overs) 270

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-22, 3-55, 4-65, 5-88, 6-155, 7-228, 8-228, 9-261.

BOWLING (to-date): Sohail Khan 21-3-62-2 (1nb); Anwar Ali 21.1-5-73-2; Tanvir Ahmed 18.5-5-53-5 (1nb); Shahid Afridi 20-3-40-0 (1nb); Rizwan Ahmed 4-0-16-0 (4nb); Fawad Alam 5-0-17-0.

SINDH: Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Naumanullah, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Rizwan Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed, Tanvir Ahmed, Anwar Ali, Sohail Khan.

UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Zameer Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.