Pacer Mohammad Hasnain and opening batter Faham-ul-Haq register memorable career milestones in first-class cricket on the second day of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy’s fifth round on Friday.
Abbottabad were made to follow on by Sialkot as they bowled out for 92, incurring a 293-run first innings deficit at the Diamond Cricket Ground, Islamabad. In their second dig, Abbottabad were 37-1 in 10.2 overs when stumps were drawn – trailing by 256 runs.
Sialkot’s pacer Mohammad Hasnain bagged his maiden first-class five-for, returning figures of 8-3-22-5 – besting his previous haul of 4-42 – while he was supported in Abbottabad’s annihilation by Test pacers Hasan Ali (8.5-3-14-3) and Mohammad Ali (11-1-27-2).
Earlier, Shahnawaz Dahani’s fourth first-class five-wicket haul (27-6-86-5) and Israr Hussain’s 4-117 helped Abbottabad wrap up Sialkot’s first innings for 385 in 107.1 overs after they resumed from an overnight score of 322-4 in 83.2 overs.
Faham-ul-Haq registered his maiden first-class century (137 not out) to bring his team closer to parity with Peshawar’s 320-run first innings total as they finished the day with 309-7 at the Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.
At the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, FATA finished the day with 213-7 – with another 219 runs in arrears – in reply to Islamabad’s 432 in the first innings. For Islamabad, pacers Hunain Shah (4-69) and Musa Khan (2-44) combined to take six wickets and reduced FATA to 107-5 at one stage.
FATA’s wicketkeeper-batter Rehan Afridi arrested the slump with a brisk 71 not out off 57 balls, hitting 11 fours and two sixes. Opening batters Mohammad Naeem (41) and Mohammad Farooq (36) provided their team a blazing start with a 68-run opening stand.
A total of 16 wickets fell at the Imran Khan Stadium, Peshawar, in the fixture between Karachi Blues and Bahawalpur as the latter ended day two with 35-1 in pursuit of a 213-run target.
Bahawalpur resumed their first innings from the overnight score of 55-5 before being skittled for 115 as Saqib Khan (4-42), Muhammad Umar (3-34) and Mohammad Hamza (2-28) shared nine wickets, giving Karachi a 102-run lead.
In the second innings, no Karachi Blues batter entered double figures except Omair Bin Yousuf (76) as they slumped to 30-5, 49-7 before being bowled out for 110. Gulfam Aziz picked up three wickets, while Mohammad Azab and Muhammad Imran dismissed two batters each.
Multan had gained a mere three-run second innings lead after they ended the day two with 122-3 against Lahore Whites at the Marghzar Cricket Ground, Islamabad.
Facing a 119-run first innings deficit, Multan’s Waqar Hussain (49) and Imran Butt (38 not out) stitched a 69-run second-wicket stand before Mohammad Abbas removed the former.
Earlier, Lahore Whites were bowled out for 283 as they resumed from their overnight score of 121-4. For Multan, Mohammad Ismail picked up three wickets, while Arafat Minhas, Kashif Ali and Mohammad Shan dismissed two batters each.
Lahore Whites’ lower order contributed to help their team gain a substantial first innings lead as Qasim Akram struck his eighth first-class half-century (61), while Aamir Jamal (45), Nisar Ahmed (33) and Mohammad Abbas (22) frustrated the Multan bowlers after their team slipped to 172-7.
