LAHORE, April 13: Fine bowling by off-spinner Atif Maqbool and paceman Muhammad Hasnain and half-century by Afsar Nawaz brought Karachi Harbour (KH) in a strong position against Sialkot in the Pentangular Cup cricket tournament on Thursday.

Atif captured three wickets for 43 runs while Hasnain earned three wickets for 62 as Sialkot were all out for 227 in 57.3 while chasing KH's first innings total of 326.

Later Afsar struck a fine knock of 65 as KH were 159-4 in the second innings, increasing the overall lead to 258.

Afsar hit nine fours while facing 115 balls.

Unbeaten captain Asim Kamal, the Test rejected, was unbeaten with a knock of 62-ball 42, hitting four boundaries.

Middle-order Muhammad Ayub with a fine knock of 93-ball 77 and lower-order Hafiz Khalid (47, six fours, one six) batted well for Sialkot but they failed to match the rival's total. Ayub struck 12 boundaries.

Scoreboard

KARACHI HARBOUR (1st innings): 326 (Rajesh Ramesh 73, Mohammad Hasnain 72; Kashif Daud 5-80, Asim Butt 4-48).

SIALKOT (1st innings, overnight 43-2):

Majid Jahangir c Farhan b Faraz 14

Atiq-ur-Rehman lbw b Hasnain 2

Bilal Hussain c Farhan b Rajesh 13

Mohammad Ayub c Rajesh b Faraz. 77

Shehzad Malik lbw b Hasnain. 35

Kamran Younis c Fahadullah b Atif 13

Tahir Mughal b Hasnain 1

Khalid Mahmood b Rajesh 47

Kashif Daud c Faraz b Atif 4

Asim Butt c Faraz b Atif. .4

Nadeem Javed not out 4

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, NB-5) 13

TOTAL (all out, 57.3 overs). 227

FALL OF WKTS:1-4, 2-24, 3-57, 4-153, 5-153, 6-159, 7-195, 8-219, 9-219.

BOWLING: Rajesh Ramesh 19-4-51-2; Mohammad Hasnain 18-1-62-3; Faraz Ahmed 10-1-63-2 (6nb); Atif Maqbool 10.3-1-43-3.

KARACHI HARBOUR (2nd innings):

Asif Zakir c Shehzad b Kashif. 8

Khalid Latif c Khalid b Kashif 28

Afsar Nawaz lbw b Majid. 65

Fahadullah Khan c Khalid b Kashif 11

Asim Kamal not out 42

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (four wkts, 42.5 overs) 159

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-53, 3-73, 4-159.

BOWLING: Tahir Mughal 10-3-31-0 (1nb); Kashif Daud 14-0-63-3; Nadeem Javed 11- 2-37-0; Asim Butt 2-0-6-0; Bilal Hussain 2-0-8-0; Kamran Younis 3-1-6-0; Majid Jahangir 0.5-0-4-1.