Northern earn draw against KP as Asif, Nawaz hit centuries

KARACHI: Asif Ali and Mohammad Nawaz hit fighting centuries to enable Northern to earn a draw against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the last day of their four-day first round outing of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Resuming at the overnight score of 105-2, Northern batted the whole day, posting 433-6 in 114 overs.

Imad Wasim-led team were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 262 in their first innings in response to KP’s total of 526-9 declared.

Asif, a hard-hitting batsman, smacked 114, his second first-class century. The right-hander’s 133-ball knock included 18 fours and three sixes.

The left-handed Nawaz also played a stroke-filled innings, hammering 15 fours and two sixes, remaining unbeaten on exactly 100 that came off 126 deliveries. This was his fifth first-class century. The duo put on 118 for the fifth-wicket.

Asif also shared an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket with Umar Amin (80). Rohail scored 46.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s bowlers toiled all day without much success. Left-arm spinner Zohaib Khan finished with figures of 2-80. KP bagged 15 points as they surpassed the 400-run mark and dismissed the opposition inside 110 overs. Northern got only eight points, five of them for draw, two for crossing the 250-run mark and one for picking up three wickets inside 100 overs.

At UBL Sports Complex, Balochistan held Sindh to a draw. In response to Sindh’s 473-5 declared, Balochistan finished at 355-9 after resuming at 191-3. In 75 overs on the final day, the visitors added 164 for the loss of six wickets. Opener Imam-ul-Haq, who started at 111, became one of the three victims of his Test team-mate Asad Shafiq after scoring 152. He faced 352 deliveries during his 514 minutes effort at the crease, striking 18 fours. Asad also added the scalp of Asif Zakir to his yesterday’s wicket of Hussain Talat (13) with his off-spinners to finish with 3-85. Kashif Bhatti got 3-115. Lower order batsman Khurram Shehzad hammered 68-ball 44 not out with two sixes and six fours. Sindh collected five points for a drawn match, three points for scoring more than 300 but less than 350 runs in 110 overs and one point for taking four wickets inside 110 overs. Balochistan picked five points for a drawn match, one for scoring more than 200 runs in 110 overs and one for taking three wickets inside 110 overs.

The clash between Central Punjab and Southern Punjab also ended in a draw at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.

Southern Punjab were 107-1 in their second innings with Sami Aslam (50*) and Umar Siddiq (18*) batting when the game was ended with the consent of both the captains.

Earlier in the day, Mohammad Saad and Faheem Ashraf resumed their innings at 30 and 41, respectively. The pair knitted an 80-run partnership in 116 balls. It was their stand that helped Central Punjab, which started the day at 348-5, score 473 all-out in response to Southern Punjab’s 467 all-out.

Saad added 29 runs to his overnight score to finish with 70 off 208 balls with 11 fours.

Faheem scored his sixth first-class fifty, hammering nine fours as he scored runs off 53 balls.

With the Gaddafi Stadium’s pitch deteriorating, the remaining five Central Punjab wickets were picked by spinners. Mohammad Irfan, slow left-arm orthodox, and Zahid Mahmood, leg-spinner, took the wickets on Tuesday, returning four for 120 and one for 130, respectively. Both teams bagged 11 points each, five of which came from the draw.