LAHORE - Asif Ali and Mohammad Nawaz cracked centuries to earn a draw for Northern against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the fourth and final day of their first round match in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Beginning the proceedings at their overnight score of 105-2, Northern batted the whole day to be on 433-6 in 114 overs at the end. The Imad Wasim-led team were forced to follow-on after being dismissed for 262 in their first innings.

That was in response to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s only knock of 526-9 declared. Asif, a hard-hitting batsman who has represented Pakistan in white-ball cricket, scored 114 – his second century at this level. The right-hander’s 133-ball aggressive knock was punctuated with 18 fours and 3 sixes, and came in 172 minutes. The left-handed Nawaz also played a stroke-filled innings, hammering 15 fours and 2 sixes to be unbeaten on exactly 100 that came off 126 deliveries. This was his fifth century in first-class cricket.

Asif and Nawaz put on 118 runs for the fifth-wicket

Asif and Nawaz put on 118 runs for the fifth-wicket. Asif also shared an 86-run stand for the fourth wicket with Umar Amin, another left-handed batsman.

Umar, who started Tuesday with overnight partner Rohail Nazir on 32, went on to make a steady 80 that included 11 fours and a six. Rohail was out for 46. All-rounder Sohail Tanvir also remained not out on an enterprising 29 that came off 35 balls and was studded with 3 sixes and a four.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bowlers toiled all day without much success. Left-arm spinner Zohaib Khan finished with figures of 2-80. Irfan Khan, Iftikhar Ahmed and Adil Amin took one wicket each. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bagged a total of 15 points as they surpassed the 400-run mark and dismissed the opposition inside 110 overs.

Northern, however, got only eight points with five of them coming from draw, two for crossing the 250-run mark and one for picking up three or less wickets inside 100 overs. In the second round matches starting on September 21, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will play Sindh in Karachi and Northern will meet Central Punjab in Faisalabad.

Scores in brief:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 526-9 declared, 136.4 overs (Muhammad Rizwan 176, Ashfaq Ahmed 106, Adil Amin 73, Iftikhar Ahmed 35, Fakhar Zaman 33, Sahibzada Farhan 29; Shadab Khan 4-151)

Northern 262 all-out, 90.3 overs (Haider Ali 99, Imad Wasim 33, Afaq Raheem 25, Umar Amin 20; Zohaib Khan 3-21, Junaid Khan 3-40, Irfan Khan 2-69) and after follow-on 433-6, 114 overs (Asif Ali 114, Mohammad Nawaz 100 not out, Umar Amin 80, Rohail Nazir 46, Sohail Tanvir 29 not out; Zohaib Khan 2-80)

Result - Match drawn

Points – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 15 Northern 8