KARACHI: Speedster Mohammad Imran starred with an eight-wicket haul as Bahawalpur launched their Group ‘A’ campaign in the three-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament with a six-wicket defeat of Larkana in less than two days on Sunday.

Imran followed his 5-23 in Larkana’s first innings of 66 with figures of three for 52 as Larkana were all out for 184 in their second innings at the Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur.

Leg-spinner Imranullah Aslam grabbed 4-54 to end up with match analysis of 7-58. Opener Bilal Irshad (70) was the main run-getter for Larkana on Sunday.

Requiring 121, the hosts then lost four wickets before getting to their target in 41 overs. Moinuddin, the top-scorer in the first innings with 44, again batted sensibly to hit an undefeated 61.

Multan, who were in real strife at three wickets down for no run at the start of play on Saturday, added 147 to their overnight tally of 210-6 before declaring their first innings at 357-8 against Quetta at the Multan Cricket Stadium with Shahzad Ali, who resumed at 100, remaining undefeated with 160 (off 229 balls, 14 boundaries and one six).

All-rounder Rizwan Haider contributed a 71-ball 47 with three hits to the fence.

Quetta were left struggling at 194-9 despite former Pakistan international Shoaib Khan struck 85 off 156 balls with 12 boundaries, while Irfanullah made an unbeaten 45 (105 balls, seven fours).

Test spinner Zulfiqar Babar and left-arm fast bowler Majid Ali claimed three wickets apiece, for 25 and 81 runs, respectively with slow left-armer Zulfiqar bowling 24.2 overs.

Talented all-rounder Fahim Ashraf captured 5-57 as Faisalabad secured 68-run lead by dismissing Dera Murad Jamali for 147 in their first innings at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

But Dera Murad Jamali hit back strongly to bowl out Faisalabad for 171 in the second innings. Asif Ali slammed 66 and Mukhtar Ahmed 43.

Seam bowler Zahoor Khan bowled well to take 6-67.

Dera Murad Jamali will begin their chase for 240 on Monday’s final day.

Meanwhile, for the second day running, play in the Sialkot-Abbottabad fixture was washed out at the Sports Stadium in Sargodha.

Close of play scores and result on Sunday (day two of three):

Group ‘A’:

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: MULTAN 357-8 in 82 overs declared (Shahzad Ali 160 not out, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 64, Rizwan Haider 47; Gohar Faiz 3-74, Baz Mohammad 2-54); QUETTA 194-9 in 67.2 overs (Shoaib Khan 85, Irfanullah 45 not out; Zulfiqar Babar 3-25, Majid Ali 3-81, Zia-ul-Haq 2-49).

At Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur: Bahawalpur beat Larkana by six wickets.

Larkana 66 in 31.3 overs (Mohammad Imran 5-23, Imranullah Aslam 3-4) and 184 in 66.4 overs (Bilal Irshad 70, Javed Bhutto 30, Imtiaz Leghari 29 not out; Imranullah Aslam 4-54, Mohammad Imran 3-52, Muzammil Tehsin 2-25); Bahawalpur 130 in 30.5 overs (Moinuddin 44; Mohammad Urs 4-24, Afraz Khoso 3-44, Ali Asghar 2-36) and 121-4 in 41 overs (Moinuddin 61 not out; Mohammad Urs 2-23).

Group ‘B’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: FAISALABAD 215 in 57.3 overs (Fahim Ashraf 50, Atif Manzoor 36, Mohammad Talha 36, Imran Khalid 30, Ali Rafiq 29; Qutubuddin 3-36, Usama Razzaq 2-6, Zahoor Ahmed 2-67) and 171 in 41 overs (Asif Ali 66, Mukhtar Ahmed 43, Fahim Ashraf 28 not out; Zahoor Ahmed 6-47, Shabbir Ali 2-3); DERA MURAD JAMALI 147 in 46.4 overs (Fahim Ashraf 5-57, Imran Khalid 2-10, Mohammad Talha 2-33).

At Sports Stadium, Sargodha: SIALKOT vs ABBOTTABAD — no play on first two days due to rain.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2016