KARACHI, Oct 11: Fringe batsman Saeed bin Nasir sent an emphatic reminder to the national selectors with a flawless captain’s innings of 211 in the PCB Inter-district Senior Cricket Tournament here on Saturday.
The 23-year-old right-hander Saeed, who was in the Pakistan squad during the Bangladesh series recently, guided KCCA Zone-II to an imposing first innings total of 330 for eight in their 90 overs against Zone-V on the first day of the two-day match at the TMC Ground.
Saeed, standing in for regular captain Naumanullah, started his innings in a blistering fashion as he raced to 100 in 91 minutes while facing 86 balls. But settled down afterwards, taking another 209 minutes and 171 deliveries for the second hundred. He stroked 21 fours and one six in his 268-ball knock.
Saeed, who was eighth out after a stay of five-and-a-quarter hours when he holed out to deep third man, dominated the second-wicket partnership of 190 in 56.2 overs with the left-handed Atif Ali Zaidi. He scored 62 of the 80-run stand for the seventh-wicket with Shamir Khattak (18).
Atif hit five boundaries in his 158-ball 67.
Medium-pacer Rizwan Saeed was the pick of Zone-V bowlers, claiming four for 61 in 21 overs.
Half-centuries by opener Salman Khan (74, 10 fours and two sixes), Pakistan junior wicket-keeper Amin-ur-Rehman (64, six fours) and skipper Wasim Naeem (62, five fours and three sixes) propelled Zone-I to 344 for nine against Zone-VI at the Student Cricket Ground.
Slow left-armer Fawwad Alam, a member of the victorious Pakistan Emerging Team in Sri Lanka, captured five for 20 in 6.1 overs to help Zone-IV bowl out Zone-VII for 264 at the Asifabad Sports Ground.
Zone-VII replied with 61 for one at stumps.
Summarised scores:
*At TMC Ground:
ZONE-II 330-8 in 90 overs (Saeed bin Nasir 211, Atif Ali Zaidi 67; Rizwan Saeed 4-61, Zeeshan Aziz 2-101) v ZONE-V.
*At Student Cricket Ground:
ZONE-I 344-9 in 90 overs (Salman 74, Amin-ur-Rehman 64, Wasim Naeem 62, Rashid Ali 44, Fahim Ahmed 44, Faisal Mirza 20 not out; Mansoor Baig 3-26, Irfanuddin 3-89, Ijaz Ahmed 2-74);
ZONE-VI 6-0 in 1 over.
*At Asifabad Sports Ground;
ZONE-VII 264 in 88.1 overs (Iqbal Shaikh 74, Hasan Raza 41, Daniyal Ahsan 41, Faraz Patel 40; Fawwad Alam 5-20, Khurram Manzoor 2-13, Azam Hussain 2-101);
ZONE-IV 61-1 in 13 overs (Khalid Latif 35 not out, Khurram Manzoor 23).
Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore: A fine century by Waqar Ahmed enabled West Zone Whites pile up 347 against East Zone Blues at the Model Town Ground.
Waqar hit 11 fours in his 155 off 177 balls. Riaz Ali Dar hit 56 with five boundaries.
Opener Kashif Siddique struck 111 as West Zone Blues reached a formidable 333 for seven against North Zone Blues at LCCA Ground.
Summarised scores:
*At Model Town Ground:
WEST ZONE WHITES 347 in 81.1 overs (Waqar Ahmed 155, Riaz Ali Dar 56; Jahangir Mirza 3-16, Hamayun Farhat 3-110, Wasim Khan 2-46);
EAST ZONE BLUES 0-0.
*At LCCA Ground:
WEST ZONE BLUES 333-7 in 90 overs (Kashif Siddique 111, Musharraf Ali 50, Tariq Rasheed 50, Adnan Akmal 25; Adnan Usman 2-41, Tariq Rasheed 2-61);
NORTH ZONE BLUES 10-0.
Our Sports Reporter adds from Islamabad: Raheel Majeed stroked an unbeaten 108 to help Islamabad secure first innings lead against Jhelum.
Islamabad bowled out Jhelum for a paltry 180 and then raced past that total to be 182 for three by the close.
Raheel was in ruthless mood and smashed 15 boundaries and a six in his fine innings. Atif Ashraf was also impressive and stood on brink of scoring a half century at 49 not out.
At the Army Cricket Ground, Chakwal hit up 244 against Rawalpindi, Sohail Rukhsar striking 56 and Sohail Mahmood scoring 48. Yasir Arafat and Munir Ansari shared 10 wickets.
Rawalpindi in reply were 23 without loss when play ended for the day.
Summarised scores:
*At Shalimar Cricket Ground, Islamabad:
JHELUM 180 in 56.3 overs (Karar Hussain 36, Asif Ali 34, Talat Mahmood 34; Afif Haider 3-53, Rauf Akbar 2-10, Raheel Majeed 2-12, Fayyaz Ahmed 2-48);
ISLAMABAD 182-3 in 38 overs (Raheel Majeed 108 not out, Atif Ashraf 49 not out; Yousuf Mahmood 2-33).
*At Army Cricket Ground, Rawalpindi:
CHAKWAL 244 in 81.1 overs (Sohail Rukhsar 56, Shahid Mahmood 48; Yasir Arafat 5-56, Munir Ansari 5-85);
RAWALPINDI 23-0 in 8 overs.
*At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi:
ATTOCK 253 in 65.5 overs (Wasim Mahmood 49, Nadeem Sikandar 40; Mir Usman Ali 7-98, Hammad Ali 2-39);
AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 58-1 in 24 overs (Zaka Qureshi 21 not out).
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