KARACHI: Abbottabad and Larkana were the early winners at the start of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament on Monday, while Karachi Blues and Multan settled for three points apiece after their first-round matches were drawn.

Abbottabad proved clinical opponents for Azad Jammu Kashmir (AJK) as thy outclassed the latter by 264 runs in their Pool ‘A’ fixture at the Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur.

Left-handed all-rounder Kamran Ghulam starred with six wickets for 26 runs to send AJK hurtling to 80 all out in their second innings.

Larkana, meanwhile defeated Dera Murad Jamali by nine wickets in the Pool ‘B’ game at the TMC Ground.

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

First round:
Pool ‘A’:

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: Match drawn.

BAHAWALPUR 135 in 55.4 overs (Mohammad Imran Sr 50; Sadaif Mehdi 4-39, Ahsan Baig 3-33) and 305-6 in 113 overs (Rafay Ahmed 65, Jahanzaib Manzoor 59, Mudassar Nazir Ahmed 40, Mohammad Wasim 34, Adeel Basit 33 not out); MULTAN 341-8 in 83 overs (Maqbool Ahmed 106, Saeed Anwar Jr 94, Zia-ul-Haq 58, Ali Hasnain 34; Mohammad Imran Sr 3-66).

At Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur: Abbottabad beat Azad Jammu Kashmir by 264 runs.

ABBOTTABAD 287 in 68.3 overs (Imran Shah 114, Sajjad Ali Jr 50; Daniyal Allah Ditta 4-57, Azhar Mahmood 4-73) and 253-7 declared in 42 overs (Sajjad Ali Sr 102, Imran Shah 73; Shadab Majeed 5-59); AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 196 in 64.1 overs (Sardar Hasan Raza 66, Usman Maroof 59; Kamran Ghulam 5-33, Junaid Khan 3-58) and 80 in 37 overs (Kamran Ghulam 6-26, Taib-ur-Rehman 3-48).

Pool ‘B’:

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: Match drawn.

KARACHI BLUES 398-9 in 83 overs (Jaahid Ali 106, Rameez Raja 106, Asad Shafiq 49, Hasan Mohsin 37, Ali Asad 34, Saifullah Khan Bangash 30 not out; Kashif Bhatti 5-158, Nauman Ali 4-140) and 200 in 73.3 overs (Saud Shakeel 86, Hasan Mohsin 44; Kashif Bhatti 4-52, Nauman Akbar 3-52, Nauman Ali 3-57); HYDERABAD 357 in 82.4 overs (Shoaib Leghari 94, Kashif Bhatti 94, Saad Khan 71, Mohammad Suleman 32; Mohammad Asghar 5-116, Mohammad Umar 3-89) and 201-7 in 30 overs (Azeem Ghumman 70, Mohammad Suleman 33; Mohammad Asghar 4-73).

At TMC Ground, Karachi: Larkana beat Dera Murad Jamali by nine wickets.

DERA MURAD JAMALI 161 in 64.4 overs (Sanaullah 55; Ali Asghar 7-59) and 175 in 79.4 overs (Najeebullah 50; Faraz Aziz 4-23, Imran Chandio 3-37, Ali Asghar 3-68); LARKANA 211-9 in 83 overs (Faraz Aziz 69 not out, Mohsin Raza 38; Zahoor Ahmed 5-29) and 119-1 in 27.2 overs (Asif Babar 48, Hamesh Kumar 36 not out, Zafar Ali 32 not out).

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2018