RAWALPINDI, Sept 28: Lahore Blues walloped Rawalpindi by six wickets Saturday to advance to the final of the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-I Cricket Championship at Rawalpindi Stadium.
Set a target of 154 for victory, Lahore Blues sailed through for the loss of four wickets in 55 overs on the third and last day of the game.
Lahore Blues never faced problems in getting to the target, their task being made even easier by some sloppy Rawalpindi fielding. Shah Nawaz Malik top-scored with 39 while Adnan Butt remained unbeaten in scoring 37.
Earlier, Rawalpindi crawled to 163 in 51.1 overs after starting the day at the overnight total of 70 for three.
Usman Saeed struck 45 from 87 balls but no other batsman could make any notable contribution.
Paceman Khurram Irshad was the pick of the bowlers returning figures of 26 for three off 13 overs of which five were maiden.
RAWALPINDI (1st Innings) 210 (Usman Saeed 46; Zeeshan Safeer 6-50).
LAHORE BLUES (1st Innings) 220 (Atif Ijaz not out 50; Saad Altaf 5-75).
RAWALPINDI (2nd Innings):
Waqas Zafar b Khurram 2
Mohammad Shiraz b Saeed 36
Zahid Mahmood c Fahad b Wahab 2
Shoaib Nasir c Adnan b Khurram 21
Mazhar Malik c Adnan Raza b Saeed 4
Imran Khan c Adnan Akmal b Irshad 2
Usman Saeed run out 45
Shahid Mahmood b Azhar Ali 9
Adnan Naveed run out 6
Afzal Javed c Wahab b Zeeshan 11
Saad Altaf not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-10, W-2, NB-13) 25
TOTAL (all out, 51.1 overs) 163
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-15, 3-70, 4-70, 5-72, 6-92, 7-107, 8-135, 9-162.
BOWLING: Khurram Irshad 13-5-26-3; Wahab Riaz 14-4-51-1; Azhar Ali 13-3-39-1; Zeeshan Safeer 4.1-0-12-1; Mohammad Saeed 6-0-18-2; Atif Ijaz 1-0-7-0.
LAHORE BLUES (2nd Innings):
Fahad-ul-Haq b Mazhar 30
Shahnawaz Malik st Adnan b Usman 39
Adnan Butt not out 37
Adnan Raza c and b Afzal 16
Atif Ijaz lbw b Afzal 15
Mohammad Saeed not out 8
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-2, W-1, NB-2) 9
TOTAL (for four wkts, 55 overs) 154
FALL OF WKTS: 1-49, 2-80, 3-114, 4-143.
BOWLING: Saad Altaf 4-0-16-0; Shahid Mahmood 11-0-41-0; Mazhar Malik 15-5-46-1; Afzal Javed 18-6-36-2; Usman Saeed 7-3-9-1.
RESULT: Lahore Blues won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: Afzaal Ahmed and Jamil Kamran.
MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.