KARACHI: After a tough competition in the first round of trials for emerging fast bowlers under the Ufone-PCB King of Speed programme, Abdul Ameer and Mohammad Imran Khan from Karachi and Nasir Malik and Akhtar Ayub from Islamabad qualified for the next round on Monday.

On the third day of the trials held here at the National Stadium and at Bhutto Cricket Ground in Islamabad a large number of young fast bowlers participated.

Abdul Ameer and Mohammad Imran Khan were selected with top speed of 132kph.

The trials in Karachi were conducted by Ufone-PCB officials including former Test cricketers Saleem Jaffer and Tauseef Ahmed along with analysts Mohammad Zubair and Shakir Khilji.

In Islamabad, the trials were supervised by former Test leg-spinner Abdul Qadir with Sabih Azhar and analysts Khurram Malik and Ahsan Ehsan.Nasir Malik and Akhtar Ayub, who attained bowling speed of 138kph and respectively, qualified for the second round.

The King of Speed trials for the opening round have already been completed in Multan, Faisalabad and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh. A total of six bowlers — two from each centre — have been selected for the second round.

The chosen young bowlers will now undergo the second round trials, scheduled to be held on April 21 at the National Stadium and the Gaddafi Stadium, for final selection.—PPI