KARACHI: Karachi Whites and Abbottabad won their respective pool fixtures on Sunday to seal remaining two berths in the triangular phase of the PCB U-19 Inter-region National Cricket Championship.

Karachi Whites overcame a defiant century from skipper Rohail Nazir to defeat Islamabad by 36 runs in the must-win Group ‘C’ clash between these two sides at the Jinnah Stadium in Gujranwala.

Islamabad had made solid progress after resuming the final day of the league-round action at 30-1 in pursuit of the challenging 286-run target and had advanced to 194-3 at one stage before the Karachi boys regained control by claiming the remaining seven wickets for 55 runs.

Rohail, however, stood out with 108, a 243-ball knock featuring 15 boundaries and one six.

Fast bowler Mohammad Ali Khan was Karachi’s hero with six wickets, including the prized-scalp of Rohail, for 60 runs in 30.4 overs as Islamabad were all out for 249 in their second innings.

Karachi Whites topped Group ‘C’ with 33 points to move into the triangular stage where Group ‘A’ winners Karachi Blues had already reached before the start of the last round of league matches.

Abbottabad needed the result they wanted — victory over fellow contenders Bahawalpur at the Sports Complex in Mardan — by 92 runs to claim six points, which were enough to help them top Group ‘B’ with 21 points, five more than Faisalabad who defeated Quetta on Sunday.

After declaring their second innings at 235-8, Abbottabad set Bahawalpur a reasonable chase of 188.

But Bahawalpur, instead, made a complete mess of the run chase by being hustled out inside 47 overs for 95.

The triangular round begins at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium from Wednesday with Abbot­tabad taking on Karachi Whites in the opening match before playing Karachi Blues in match two from Oct 4. The two Karachi outfits then clash from Oct 8.

The four-day final will also be staged in Mirpur between the two sides of the triangular phase from Oct 13 to 16.

Scores and results on Sunday (final day of three):

Fifth-round:

Group ‘A’:

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Match drawn.

KARACHI BLUES 277 in 76.4 overs (Ashar Qureshi 106, Imran Shah 76, Haider Ali 28; Nasir Nawaz 4-43, Farhan Shafiq 3-54) and 240 in 84.2 overs (Anas Ilyas 54 not out, Obaisullah Khan 44, Ashar Qureshi 32, Usama Butt 31; Imran Khan 4-70, Wahidullah 2-17, Munir Riaz 2-53, Farhan Shafiq 2-64); RAWALPINDI 140 in 71 overs (Mohammad Jagir 56, Farhan Shafiq 26, Mohammad Salar 25; Kahaf Patel 5-51, Ali Umar 2-25, Ashar Qureshi 2-27) and 109-2 in 30 overs (Ziad Khan 66, Mohammad Ajmal 31 not out).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Fata beat Azad Jammu Kashmir by 146 runs.

FATA 171 in 60.1 overs (Mohammad Naeem 44, Mohammad Khayyam 40, Naik Afridi 30; Hammad Islam 6-43, Najam Naseer 2-18, Faisal Akbar 2-18) and 249-6 declared in 46.2 overs (Naik Afridi 87, Mohammad Khayyam 87, Shahenshah Afridi 34; Usman Fazil 3-39, Hammad Islam 2-82); AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 125 in 65.2 overs (Badar Mukhtar 28; Umar Khan 3-25, Hamza Khan 3-31, Samad Riaz 2-26) and 149 in 55.4 overs (Hammad Islam 59; Umar Khan 6-42).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: Match drawn.

PESHAWAR 240 in 63 overs (Waqar Ahmed 88, Saqib Jamil 58, Mohsin Khan 32; Nauman Akbar 4-43, Raza-ul-Hasan 3-44) and 316-9 declared in 80.3 overs (Saqib Jamil 89, Waqar Ahmed 75, Mohsin Khan 67, Mukhtiar Ahmed 31; Mohammad Hasnain 4-58, Mohammad Suleman 2-10, Nauman Akbar 2-82); HYDERABAD 311 in 82.4 overs (Mohammad Suleman 80, Saud Jaffri 50 not out, Saad Khan 48, Uzair Jaffri 28, Nauman Akbar 26; Mohammad Ilyas 3-56) and 171-7 in 39 overs (Uzair Jaffri 63, Mohammad Suleman 36; Azam Khan 5-10).

Group ‘B’:

At Bohranwali Ground, Faisalabad: Faisalabad beat Quetta by 80 runs.

FAISALABAD 120 in 42.4 overs (Awais Zafar 28; Mohammad Ajmal 6-17) and 264 in 86.4 overs (Mohammad Awais 83, Awais Zafar 64, Mohammad Irfan 53; Mohammad Ajmal 5-76, Mohammad Junaid 2-68); QUETTA 168 in 48.3 overs (Mohammad Junaid 38; Salman Shafqat 5-48, Talha Umar 2-14) and 136 in 58 overs (Hidayatullah 47; Salman Shafqat 6-60, Usama Javed 4-32).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: Match drawn.

LAHORE BLUES 256 in 80 overs (Zohaib Amanat 102 not out, Uzair Nazir 75; Aamir Ali 7-79, Nasir Ali 2-102) and 115-8 declared in 19.4 overs (Ibtisam-ul-Haq 29; Aamir Ali 3-4, Ghulam Mohammad 3-48); LARKANA 126 in 42.1 overs (Sajjad Ali 52; Ameer Hamza 5-43, Umair Abbas 3-36) and 121-9 in 54 overs (Sajjad Ali 33; Abdullah Tahir 4-48, Bilal Khan 3-25).

At Sports Complex, Mardan: Abbottabad beat Bahawalpur by 92 runs.

ABBOTTABAD 135 in 59.1 overs (Hamza Khan 31, Basit 30; Mohammad Junaid 4-39, Abdur Rehman 2-19, Nauman Ahmed 2-27, Naveed Malik 2-28) and 235-8 declared in 98.3 overs (Khayyam Khan 62, Aftab Afzal 38, Mohammad Arif 36; Mohammad Junaid 5-101, Naveed Malik 2-48); BAHAWALPUR 183 in 67.3 overs (Ali Imran 80; Hamza Khan 5-46, Mohammad Asad 2-43) and 95 in 46.2 overs (Abdul Hadi 20; Aftab Afzal 3-12, Hamza Khan 3-22, Arshad Iqbal 2-17, Mohammad Asad 2-33).

Group ‘C’:

At Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala: Karachi Whites beat Islamabad by 36 runs.

KARACHI WHITES 150 in 48 overs (Sufyan Khan 48, Syed Amin 27, Mohammad Tariq 26; Zain-ul-Abedin 5-35, Danish Javed 3-10) and 245-6 declared in 43 overs (Ram Ravi 82, Mohammad Taha 71, Sufyan Khan 34 not out; Zain-ul-Abedin 4-94); ISLAMABAD 110 in 66.2 overs (Hasan Nasir 30, Haroon Wahid 28; Mohammad Tariq 4-19, Mohammad Makki 3-29) and 249 in 98.4 overs (Rohail Nazir 108, Manzoor-ur-Rehman 44, Inayat Ali 39; Mohammad Ali Khan 6-60, Jahanzeb Sultan 2-32, Mohammad Tariq 2-61).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: Match drawn.

DERA MURAD JAMALI 353 in 74.4 overs (Aaqib Junaid 166, Mohammad 39, Mohammad Shahid 35, Usama Razzaq 32, Abdul Haq 32; Mohammad Jahangir 5-108, Asjar Ashfaq 3-84) and 325-8 declared in 66.5 overs (Mohammad 148, Saeed Ahmed 77; Faraz Khan 2-73); MULTAN 255 in 71.1 overs (Mudassar Gilani 90, Faraz Khan 48, Mohammad Alamgir 44, Asjar Ashfaq 26; Mohammad Shahid 5-70, Saeed Ahmed 4-59) and 219-5 in 61 overs (Ali Raza 82 not out, Mohammad Alamgir 73; Saeed Ahmed 2-67).

At Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Mirpur: Match drawn.

SIALKOT 271 in 80.3 overs (Abdullah Shafiq 97, Momin Waqar 70, Aashir Mahmood 33; Fahad Munir 3-45, Danish Butt 3-63, Mohammad Naeem 3-69) and 356-7 in 97 overs (Momin Waqar 134, Mohsin Riaz 50 not out, Asad Ali 47, Ghulam Mohammad 39, Ashir Bhatti 37; Hashim Ibrahim 2-50, Danish Butt 2-77);LAHORE WHITES 330-5 in 83 overs (Ramis Mustafa 81, Fahad Munir 76, Faisal Ali 58, Saad Ali Rafai 57 not out; Asad Ali 3-82).

Final league-round standings

(Tabulated under played, won, drawn/abandoned, points):

Group ‘A’

Karachi Blues 5 4 1 0 40
Peshawar 5 3 1 1 28
Fata 5 2 2 1 18
Rawalpindi 5 1 1 3 13
Hyderabad 5 0 2 3 6
Azad Jammu Kashmir 5 0 4 1 1

Group ‘B’

Abbottabad 5 2 1 2 21
Faisalabad 5 2 1 2 16
Bahawalpur 5 1 2 2 15
Lahore Blues 5 1 1 3 14
Quetta 5 2 2 1 12
Larkana 5 1 2 2 9

Group ‘C’

Karachi Whites 5 3 0 2 33
Islamabad 5 3 2 0 28
Lahore Whites 5 2 0 3 22
Dera Murad Jamali 5 1 2 2 12
Sialkot 5 1 2 2 9
Multan 5 0 4 1 0

Published in Dawn, September 25th, 2017