KARACHI, Dec 4 Anees Afridi and Altaf Ahmed excelled as defending champions Rawalpindi got off to a sterling start, inflicting a five-wicket defeat on Sialkot in the second National Disabled Cricket Championship at the Aga Khan Gymkhana ground on Thursday.Off-spinner Afridi captured five wickets for 19 runs to help dismiss Sialkot for 139 in 24.2 overs. Rawalpindi, in reply, romped home for the loss of five wickets in 28.3 overs. Altaf slammed an unbeaten 61.

In another match played at the PCB Academy Ground, Lahore beat Faisalabad by one wicket in a thrilling finish on the last ball, thanks to a defiant unbeaten 28 by Shahid Hameed.

Paceman Mohammad Fayyaz took four wickets for 51 runs as Faisalabad were dismissed for 199 in 33.3 overs. Tauseef Ahmed made 50. Lahore, in response reached the target with their last pair in.

At the National Stadium, hosts Karachi overwhelmed Peshawar by 111 runs mainly due to a 122-run opening stand between Arif Richard (67) and Rao Javed (42).

Batting first, Karachi totalled 239-5 in the stipulated 35 overs. Peshawar, in reply, crumbled to 128 all out despite a fighting unbeaten 57 by Nihar Alam.

In another game staged at the UBL Sports Complex 'B' Ground, Hyderabad defeated Azad Kashmir by 25 runs.

Summarised scores

SIALKOT 139 in 24.2 overs (A. Basit 39, Qaiser Latif 33, Alamgir 22; Anees Afridi 5-19, Major Hasnain 2-27); RAWALPINDI 141-5 in 28.3 overs (Altaf Ahmed 61 not out, Zain-ul-Abidin 29, Usman Paracha 14; Rashid Malik 4-36).

FAISALABAD 199 in 33.3 overs (Tauseef Ahmed 50, Adnan Butt 47, Rehan Ghani 33; Mohammad Fayyaz 4-51, Farooq Ahmed 3-35); LAHORE 202-9 in 35 overs (Shahid Ali 32, Shahid Hameed 28 not out, Shakir Ali 24; Dawood Aslam 3-32, Rehan Ghani 3-43, Waseef-ur-Rehman 2-28).

KARACHI 239-5 in 35 overs (Arif Richard 67, Rao Javed 42, Danish Ahmed 32, A. Rehman 30; Fayyaz Ahmed 2-24); PESHAWAR 128 in 22.2 overs (Nihar Alam 57 not out, Abdullah 25; Mohammad Kalam 2-30, Ishaq Junior 2-36).

HYDERABAD 211 in 34.2 overs (Zakir Hussain 67, Faizan Ali 41, Ayaz 29; Akseer Ahmed 2-31, Faiz Ahmed 2-35, Asghar Shah 2-43); AZAD KASHMIR 186 in 29.2 overs (Akseer Ahmed 58, Faiz Ahmed 40; Asif Qureshi 2-36).—APP