Peshawar North and South to clash each in the final of the PCB Women Twenty20 Cricket League final to be played on Thursday here at Shaheed Benazir Bhutto Women University Cricket Ground.
Peshawar North with the victory against Mardan remained unbeaten, played three matches against Peshawar South, Charsadda and Mardan, followed by Peshawar South, played three matches with one lost against Peshawar North and secured victories against Mardan and Charsadda, taking second posi-tion, thus both North and South moved to the final.
Earlier, in the last league match Peshawar North skipper and international skipper Salma Faiz won the toss and decided to bat first by setting up 144 runs target for the loss three wickets with star batter Mahnoor smashed an elegant knock of 45 runs not out with five boundaries and two towering sixes. She smashed even four boundaries in the 20th over, putting the team total to 144 runs but unluckily she missed her most deserving half-century due to overs completion.
Momina, the opening batter, made 30 runs off 28 balls with five boundaries and was run out, Neelam made another vital 30 runs not out off 27 balls with three boundaries and one six, Nousheen scored 13 runs off 13 balls with two boundaries and Sana Liaqat made 15 runs off 17 balls with three bounda-ries.
Mahnoon and Neelam added 70 runs partnership for the fourth wicket and played a key role in the team total of 144 run for the loss of three wickets. For Mardan, Uzma Khan took one wicket for 45 runs in her four overs spell and Sumbal got one wicket for 27 runs in her four overs spell while one run out. Kiran and Neelam were too costly as Kiran gave 40 score in her four overs spell and Neelam bowled four overs and gave 37 runs with no wicket.
In reply, excellent bowling by Peshawar North gave no chance to Mardan Worries to chase the dented target of 145 runs in 20 overs and thus Mar-dan bundled out for 55 runs. Surprisingly five of the Mardan batters bowled out for no score and only Uzma made 26 runs, Noreen Anwar scored 18 runs and Kiram scored 6 runs, none of the other players of the batting line up could cross the double figures.
For Peshawar, North Mahnoor claimed two wickets for just two runs in her two overs spell, Nousheen took two for 9 runs in her three overs spell, Sukhaina took two for three runs in her four overs spell, Kainat and Malaika took one wicket each.
Jamshed Iqbal and Muhammad Fayyaz super-vised the match while Nadeem Akhtar acted as offi-cial scorer.—APP
