RAWALPINDI, July 20: Azad Jammu and Kashmir gained control of their PCB Under-19 Inter-district Cricket Championship match against Chakwal, thanks to a sizzling century by Raja Shafa at Shalimar Cricket Ground on Sunday.
Raja blasted 15 boundaries and a six in his innings of 120 that saw AJK amass 295 for seven before they declared their innings closed having batted 63.4 overs. Javed Iqbal was the other key scorer contributing 47. Mohammad Zubair snared three for 28.
The AJK bowlers then took centre stage and had pinned down Chakwal, who were 116 for five in 31 overs at the close. Irfan Talib snapped up three for 11.
At Army Cricket Ground, Rawalpindi and Jhelum shared the honours on the first day of their match. After Jhelum had put on 218 in their first innings, the hosts finished the day on 101 but had lost three wickets in the 30 overs they batted.
Islamabad, playing Attock at KRL Stadium were dismissed for 220 in 61.4 overs, Fayyaz Ahmed striking 56 and Danish Hanif scoring 51.
But Attock did well in scoring 141 for three by the close of play with Saqib Shah making 40. Raja Naveed was 31 not out.
Summarised scores:
At Shalimar Cricket Ground:
AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 295-7 in 63.4 overs (Raja Shafa 120, Javed Iqbal 47, Noman Anwar 30, Ehtisham Qadeer 29; Mohammad Zubair 3-28, Mohammad Younis 2-53);
CHAKWAL 116-5 in 31 overs (Jahanzeb 33, Mohammad Ibrahim 27, Abdul Ghafoor 23; Irfan Talib 3-11, Mujtaba Gardezi 2-37).
At Army Cricket Ground:
JHELUM 218 in 68.5 overs (Mohammad Aqeel 65, Qasim Maqbool 38, Rashid Mahmood 35; Usman Saeed 3-39, Khurrum Shahzad 2-9, Rizwan Akbar 2-32, Khalid Mushtaq 2-80);
RAWALPINDI 101-3 in 30 overs (Waqas Zafar 41, Faisal Butt 31; Qasim Maqbool 2-38).
At KRL Stadium:
ISLAMABAD 220 in 61.4 overs (Fayyaz Ahmed 56, Danish Hanif 51, Imran Fazal 31, Rana Ijaz 28; Nusrat Khan 5-31, Najamul Hasan 2-19);
ATTOCK 141-3 in 33 overs (Saqib Shah 40, Raja Naveed 31 not out, Najamul Hasan 21).
Our Correspondent adds from Hyderabad: Anil Iqbal claimed a five-wicket haul to put Hyderabad in a comfortable position after Badin were bundled out for 90 at Niaz Stadium.
Mohammad Imran scored 31. Anil Iqbal claimed five for 25 while Sufyan Ali and Shoaib Leghari took two for 14 and two for 21 respectively.
By stumps, Hyderabad were already in front by four runs, having reached 94 for f .
Meanwhile, because of dilapidated conditions at PCB Regional Academy Ground at Rani Bagh saw no play at all in the game between Sanghar and Nawabshah.
The entire ground was water-logged. The sub-soil water control drainage system that was claimed to have been laid was not working, thus forcing the water level continued to increase.
Following recent rains the situation has further aggravated and the entire outfield in is miserable shape with huge patches visible.
There were no covers and the DCA officials made temporary arrangements to save the main three pitches. Out of these only one be used for playing while the rest were not upto the mark.