LAHORE - Abdullah Shafiq’s class century helped NCA Youth XI outran Malaysian cricket team by six wickets in the first one-day match played here at Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.
Malaysia cricket team is on a 10-day tour to Lahore, Pakistan for a high performance camp here at the National Cricket Academy. During the camp, the Malaysian cricket team will play three one-dayers and two T20s at the Gaddafi Stadium.
After winning the toss and elected to bat first, Malaysian batsmen from the start played some aggressive shots in all parts of the ground. Ahmed Faiz scored magnificent 86 off 113 balls with the help of six fours and a six, but an unbeaten knock of 50 from 42 balls from Syed Aziz helped the side to pile up 239 runs for the loss of five wickets in allotted 45 overs. Moosa Khan was the most successful bowler for NCA Youth XI with a match figure of 2-39 in seven overs.
Chasing 240-run target to win, NCA Youth XI lost two quick wickets, but Abdullah Shafiq’s unbeaten 122 off 98 balls guided the team to six-wicket victory over Malaysia cricket team. He was ably assisted by M Saleem who slammed 55 hitting four boundaries and one six and Nasir Nawaz who contributed 31. From Malaysian side, Derek Michael bagged 3-50 and Suharril Fitri 1-34, but their team couldn’t score win.
Talking to the reporters, Malaysia cricket team head coach Bilal Asad said: “The tour to Pakistan is very helpful for the players to prepare for the upcoming ICC’s World League. The facilities here are very good, and the players playing here will get a lot of exposure to compete in the upcoming ICC’s event and in the bilateral series.
“The players and the team management are here and are very comfortable and safe over here. I hope the tour goes well and we will come again in the future as well,” he added.
NCA Youth XI head coach Abdul Majeed said: “Pakistan is a safe country, and the tour of associate member team is a good omen for Pakistan’s cricket. We are hopeful with the associate team coming over here will pave the way for the international cricket team to tour Pakistan soon.”
SUMMARIZED SCORES:
MALAYSIA: 239-5 in 45 overs (Ahmed Faiz 86, 6x4s, 113 balls, Syed Aziz 50*, 3x4s, 4x6s, 42 balls, Anwar Arudin 35, 7x4s, 29 balls, Moosa Khan 2-39, Virandeep Singh 28, 2x4s, 63 balls, Nasir Nawaz 1-24, Ali Zaryab 1-28, Usama Mir 1-38)
NCA YOUTH XI: 240-4 in 39.3 overs (Abdullah Shafiq 122*, 13x4s, 2x6s, 98 balls, Muhammad Saleem 55, 4x4s, 1x6, Nasir Nawaz 31, 4x4s, 2x6s, 26 balls, Derek Michael 3-50, Suharril Fitri 1-34).