FAISALABAD had the better of the first day’s play in the Bottoms Six Teams final of the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship against Bahawalpur at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on Sunday.

Having recovered substantially from the doldrums of being 97-5 to a much more respectable 273 in their first innings after being asked to bat first by Bahawalpur captain Rehan Rafiq, Faisalabad’s strike bowler Samiullah Khan Niazi nipped out first-class debutant Rafay Ahmed (second ball) and Hamid Ali to Bahawalpur in tatters at two wickets down for no runs in four deliveries.

Faisalabad made a god start with Asif Ali (20) and Moazzam Hayat (45) adding 45 for the opening wicket before leg-spinner Imranullah Aslam triggered a collapse on his way to five for 83 in 24 overs.

The left-handed Ali Waqas joined the elite group of batsmen who had scored 1,000 or more runs in first-class cricket this season. The 23-year-old, who scored a 63-ball 41 (seven boundaries), reached the coveted milestone when he had made 31.

Mohammad Salman, the ex-Test wicket-keeper, played a captain’s innings by contributing 69 from 123 deliveries with the aid of seven hits to the fence before Faisalabad were further bolstered by an invaluable ninth-wicket stand of 41 between debutant Bilal Butt and Samiullah with each man scoring 28.

Scoreboard FAISALABAD (1st Innings): Asif Ali c Waqas b Ataullah    20 Moazzam Hayat c Ataullah b Imranullah    25 M. Shahid c Hamid b Imranullah    19 Ali Waqas c Rafay b Imranullah    41 Khurram Shehzad c F. Mubashir b Imranullah    0 Zeeshan Butt lbw b Imranullah    9 M. Salman c Waqas b Ataullah    69 Imran Khalid c Waqas b Kamran    24 Bilal Butt b Ansar    28 Samiullah Khan Niazi not out    28 Faisal Yasin run out    2

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, NB-1)    8 TOTAL (all out, 83.2 overs)    273 FALL OF WKTS: 1-45, 2-54, 3-75, 4-75, 5-97, 6-145, 7-198, 8-221, 9-262. BOWLING: Kamran Hussain 10-1-39-1; Ataullah 25.2-4-76-2 (1nb); Ansar Javed 10-0-33-1; Bilal Khilji 8-0-18-0; Imranullah Aslam 24-4-83-5; Faisal Elahi 6-0-17-0.

BAHAWALPUR (1st Innings): Rafay Ahmed lbw b Samiullah    0 Imranullah Aslam not out    0 Hamid Ali b Samiullah    0

EXTRAS    0 TOTAL (for two wkts, 0.4 over)    0 FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-0. TO BAT: Bilal Khilji, Rehan Rafiq, Faisal Mubashir, Kamran Hussain, Ansar Javed, Waqas Khan, Ataullah, Faisal Elahi. BOWLING (to-date): Samiullah Khan Niazi 0.4-0-0-2. UMPIRES: Akram Raza and Raweed Khan. MATCH REFREE: Ishtiaq Ahmed.