KARACHI, Feb 26: Spinner Umar Shaikh excelled with a five-wicket haul as Zone-VII Whites qualified for the semi-finals of the KCCA Woodward Trophy Under-17 Inter-zonal cricket tournament with a thrilling one-wicket win over Zone-III Whites at the KCCA Stadium.

Slow left-armer Umar claimed five for 11 to play a big part in restricting Zone-III Whites to 178 all out in 44.2 overs with Mohammad Zahid (40, four fours) and Hasan Mohsin (37, boundaries) the main run-getters. Off-spinner Mohammad Shoaib took three for 16.

Zone-VII Whites reached their target of 179 in 44 overs with Mohammad Tahir playing a sterling unbeaten innings of 60 with six fours and one six.

In the semi-finals to be played on Wednesday, Zone-VII Whites take o Zone-VI Whites at the KCCA Stadium with Zone-II Whites facing Zone-IV Whites at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground.

Meanwhile, in other last-round league fixtures, Zone-III Whites beat Zone-IV Blues by five wickets, Zone-II Blues defeated Zone-I Greens by three wickets and Zone-I Blues pulling off a 49-run victory over Zone-IV Greens.

Summarised scores:

Zone-VII Whites beat Zone-III Whites by one wicket at the KCCA Stadium.

ZONE-III WHITES 178 in 44.2 overs (Mohammad Zahid 40, Hasan Mohsin 37, Rabish Ahmed 25; Umar Shaikh 5-11, Mohammad Shoaib 3-16); ZONE-VII WHITES 179-9 in 44 overs (Mohammad Tahir 60 not out, Ghani Subhan 37, Saqib Khan 25; Rabish Ahmed 2-8, Kiran Prakash 2-23). Zone-II Blues beat Zone-l Greens by three wickets at TMC Ground. ZONE-I GREENS 99 in 34.4 overs (Mahmood Ali 32, Bilal Ahsan 24; Sarfraz Malik 5-18, Mohammad Akif 2-13); ZONE-II BLUES 100-7 in 31.2 overs (Mohammad Akif 21 not out; Ashraf Khan 3-13). Zone-III Whites beat Zone-IV Blues by five wickets at KCCA Stadium. ZONE-IV BLUES 107 in 23.5 overs (Hilal Ahmed 25 not out; Rabish Ahmed 4-32, Hasan Mohsin 2-20, Usman Aftab 2-26); ZONE-III WHITES 108-5 in 26.3 overs (Hasan Mohsin 31 not out, Abdul Basit 27 not out; Ahmed Ali 4-60). Zone-I Blues beat Zone-IV Greens by 49 runs at Pak Star Ground. ZONE-L BLUES 177 in 38.2 overs (Obaid-ur-Rehman 77; Shoaib Bashir 4-21, Waqar Ahmed 2-26); ZONE-IV GREENS 128 in 27.1 overs (Hamza Qadir 40, Ahmed Abbas 25; Rashid Aslam 4-35, Mohammad Hamza 3-41, Akbar Khan 2-37).