KARACHI: Scintillating centuries from Osama Butt and Afroze Hasan powered Bilal Friends to a clinical eight-wicket win over Bright Gymkhana as two more matches were decided in the All-Karachi Prof Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi Invitation Cricket Tournament here on Friday.

Opener Haider Ali struck a fine 95 (13 fours and two sixes) to help Bright Gymkhana post 283-9 in the stipulated 45 overs of their innings at the Landhi Gymkhana Ground.

But Bilal Friends made light work of the competitive chase as they cruised home by reaching 284-2 in the 36th over on the back of unfinished third-wicket partnership of 219 between opening batsman Osama and Afroze.

Osama ended up scoring 140 from 107 balls with the aid of 18 boundaries, while Afroze needed only 75 deliveries to strike 107 which included 14 fours and one towering six.

Meanwhile in the day’s other fixture at the TMC Ground, Mansoora Sports also registered an eight-wicket drubbing of Orangi Star CC. Saad Ansari was the mainstay for the Orangi side with a defiant 95 from 88 balls (14 boundaries) in a total of 241-9 in 45 overs.

Mansoora Sports, in their reply, raced to 242-2 in just 29.3 overs. Fawad Ghafoor excelled with an undefeated knock of 80 that was adorned with 10 hits to the fence, while Hazrat Amin contributed a boundary-laden 51.

Summarised scores:

Bilal Friends beat Bright Gymkhana by eight wickets at Landhi Gymkhana Ground.

BRIGHT GYMKHANA 283-9 in 45 overs (Haider Ali 95, Zain Anwar 46, Sharafat Ali 27, Mohammad Dilshad 21, Zafar Shah 20; Mohammad Talha 3-46, Osama Butt 2-42 Owais Karni 2-45); BILAL FRIENDS 284-2 in 35.3 overs (Osama Butt 140 not out, Afroze Hasan 107 not out, Abdullah Zareen 23:

Mansoora Sports beat Orangi Star CC by eight wickets at TMC Ground.

ORANGI STAR CC 241-9 in 45 overs (Saad Ansari 95, Mohammad Bilal 49, Mohammad Asim Hussain 24, Absar Ahmed 20; Mohammad Akif 3-35, Arham Kashif 3-44, Syed Khalid Mughal 2-62); MANSOORA SPORTS 242-2 in 29.3 overs (Fawad Ghafoor 80 not out, Hazrat Amin 51, Mati-ur-Rehman 4, Syed Arif Zaidi 33 not out).

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2020