KARACHI: Peshawar and Islamabad emerged on Thursday as early winners in the PCB Under-19 Inter-region (Three-day) National Cricket Championship with defeating their respective opponents inside two days.

Peshawar crushed the hapless Azad Jammu Kashmir by an innings and 80 runs in the Group ‘A’ fixture at the SBP Sports Complex here in Karachi.

Azam Khan, the talented slow left-armer, tormented Azad Jammu Kashmir by grabbing five wickets in each innings to finish with match figures of 10 for 80 in a combined total of 35.4 overs. Leg-spinner Rashid Iqbal lent good support with six victims, including four in the second innings.

In the seesaw Group ‘C’ match at the Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital, hosts Islamabad upstaged Dera Murad Jamali by six wickets.

Left-arm spinner Abu Hurraira picked up 5-22 in 15 overs as Dera Murad Jamali struggled to 137 all out in their second innings.

Skipper Rohail Nazir then underlined his potential by hitting up an unbeaten 64 to follow his 89 in the first innings as Islamabad reached the target of 135 for the loss of four wickets.

The Group ‘A’ clash between Karachi Blues and Fata at the UBL Sports Complex was tantalizing poised with the visitors reaching stumps on day two at 33-2 in pursuit of a target of 192.

Fata captain Shahenshah Afridi shone with match bag of 9-105 after taking another four wickets as Karachi Blues were dismissed for 164 in their second innings.

Meanwhile, the second day of play in the Group ‘B’ game between Lahore Blues and Faisalabad at Lahore’s LCCA Ground was entirely washed out.

Close of play scores and results on Thursday (day two of three):

First round:

Group ‘A’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: KARACHI BLUES 216 in 50.5 overs (Mohammad Zubair 48, Ashar Qureshi 40, Taha Mahmood 39; Shahenshah Afridi 5-55, Umar Khan 3-44, Hamza Khan 2-19) and 164 in 54.1 overs (Anas Ilyas 65; Shahenshah Afridi 4-50, Umar Khan 3-26); FATA 189 in 58.1 overs (Mohammad Khayyam 43, Mohammad Ishaq 36, Mohammad Tahir 33; Izhar Gul 3-54, Ashar Qureshi 3-56, Daniyal Naveed 2-24, Kahaf Patel 2-26) and 33-2 in 11 overs (Izhar Gul 2-10).

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Peshawar beat Azad Jammu Kashmir by an innings and 80 runs.

PESHAWAR 328-5 in 83 overs (Mohsin Khan 127, Saqib Jamil 90, Waqar Ahmed 52; Zohaib Bukhari 2-87); AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 123 in 46.4 overs (Zohaib Bukhari 24; Azam Khan 5-43, Rashid Iqbal 2-22, Mohammad Ilyas 2-31) and 125 in 54.2 overs (Qazi Arbqan 41; Azam Khan 5-37, Rashid Iqbal 4-42).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: RAWALPINDI 189 in 70.1 overs (Zaid Khan 65; Hasan Ali 5-60, Saad Khan 4-37) and 159-4 in 54 overs (Mohammad Ajmal 58, Hasnain Ahmed 37 not out, Zaid Khan 30; Saad Khan 2-20); HYDERABAD 119 in 50.4 overs (Saad Khan 29; Munir Riaz 6-26, Abrar Zaman 2-33).

Group ‘B’:

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE BLUES 107-1 in 32 overs (Ibtisam-ul-Haq 52 not out, Uzair Nasir 34 not out) vs FAISALABAD — no play on Thursday due to rain.

At Lahore Country Club, Muridke: QUETTA 263 in 83 overs (Abdul Nasir 59, Hidayatullah 45, Israr Ahmed 43; Naved Malik 3-35, Mohammad Junaid 3-70); BAHAWALPUR 300-8 in 77 overs (Nauman Akram 84, Ali-ul-Hasan 60, Sharjeel Ahmed 56, Ali Imran 48; Hussain 2-59, Mohammad Junaid 2-98) .

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: ABBOTTABAD 297 in 83 overs (Mansoor Ali 88, Umar Sadiq 61, Danish Sarhadi 42; Ghulam Mohammad -5-80, Nadir Ali 2-61, Aamir Ali 2-64); LARKANA 156-5 in 44 overs (Jahangir Mir 48 not out; Mohammad Shahab 4-65).

Group ‘C’:

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SIALKOT 135-6 in 52 overs (Ashir Mahmood 39 not out; Arish Ali Khan 4-42, Mohammad Ali 2-33) vs KARACHI WHITES — no play on Wednesday due to rain.

At Gymkhana Cricket Ground, Okara: LAHORE WHITES 166 in 52.1 overs (Umar Amjad 40, Ramis Mustafa 34; Mohammad Jahangir 8-40, Zaheer Islam 2-43) and 124 in 40.2 overs (Ramis Mustafa 44; Mohammad Waqas 3-14, Mohammad Jahangir 3-45, Mohammad Huzaifa 2-35); MULTAN 81 in 29.2 overs (Usman Shafiq 24; Danish Butt 4-28, Hannan Zahid 3-25) and 121-4 in 47 overs (Usman Shafiq 48 not out; Usman Abid 2-37).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Islamabad beat Dera Murad Jamali by six wickets.

DERA MURAD JAMALI 140 in 31 overs (Mohammad Shahid 52, Mohammad 49 not out; Zain-ul-Abedin 6-51, Musa Khan 2-17, Abu Hurraira 2-33) and 137 in 50.4 overs (Usama Razzaq 83; Abu Hurraira 5-22, Haroon Wahid 3-27, Musa Khan 2-32); ISLAMABAD 143 in 43.3 overs (Rohail Nazir 89; Zahid Ali 4-18, Saeed Ahmed 3-26) and 135-4 in 47.2 overs (Rohail Nazir 64 not out; Ahmer Aziz 2-32).

Published in Dawn, September 8th, 2017