LAHORE    -   After piling up an impressive 433 all-out in the first innings, Central Punjab squeezed Northern to 114 and enforced follow-on on the second day of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy second round encounter at the Iqbal stadium in Faisalabad.

Resuming on 369 for five, the home side got bundled out in 107.5 overs. Captain Azhar Ali, added 45 runs more to his score to register a 262-ball 155, embellished with 13 fours. Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and right-arm fast-bowler Musa Khan accounted for Central Punjab’s four and three wickets respectively.

Northern’s batting failed to find feet from the onset as Ehsan Adil and Zafar Gohar had uprooted half the side by Tea with just 59 runs on the board. The visiting party’s woes continued and they were all-out for a mere 114 in 60.3 overs, which added three more points to Central Punjab’s tally. The highest score of the innings was 17. Northern, on Monday, will start their second innings with the deficit of 319 runs.

Ashfaq, Adil fightback keep KP alive

At the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi, an unbeaten 92-run partnership between Ashfaq Ahmed and Adil Amin took pressure off Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as they were 97 for two in their reply of Sindh’s mammoth 476 for nine on day two.

Right-arm medium-fast bowlers Sohail Khan and Tabish Khan struck early in the second innings of the match to reduce the visiting party to five for two before Ashfaq and Adil weathered the storm. Ashfaq batted on 28 from 75 balls and Adil, who hit nine fours and a six in the 98 balls he faced, had 63 runs next to his name when the stumps were drawn on the second day’s play.

Resuming their day on the overnight score of 254 for two, Sindh lost wickets at regular intervals, thanks to Sameen Gul (20-7-50-3) and Adil Amin (28-1-81-5). Omair Bin Yousuf, adding 41 runs to his overnight score, hit a 298-ball 174 with 18 fours and three sixes. Captain Asad Shafiq scored his career’s 43rd first-class half-century with a 154-ball 81 that had seven fours and a six. A solid century by Fawad Alam put Sindh in control of the innings. The 33-year-old hit an unbeaten 100 from 138 balls, embellished by eight fours and a six, and knitted an undefeated 108-run stand for the last wicket with fast-bowler Mir Hamza (15).

Umar, Imran lead Southern Punjab’s fightback

In Quetta, Umar Siddiq and Imran Rafiq put on an unbeaten fourth-wicket stand of 110 runs to lead a fightback for Southern Punjab against Balochistan. Replying to the home team’s huge first innings score of 500-9 declared in 130.5 overs, Southern Punjab ended the second day at the Bugti Stadium on 161-3 in 41 overs. They still trail by 339 runs. The left-handed batting pair of Umar and Imran pulled their team out of trouble after they were reduced to 51-3 in the 15th over. Umar, who was unbeaten on 67 and had smashed nine fours and a six, and Imran, 56 not out with the help of 11 fours.

Southern Punjab suffered early blows when they lost captain Shan Masood (6) and Sami Aslam (20) with just 37 runs on the board. Sohaib Maqsood (10) was run out before Umar and Imran steadied ship. Umar Gul and Yasir Shah were the two wicket takers for Balochistan as they picked up a wicket each.

Earlier, Balochistan added a further 153 runs for the loss of five wickets to their overnight score of 347-4 before captain Imran Farhat decided to declare their innings. Azeem Ghumman, who began the day’s proceedings on an unbeaten 143, was the sixth batsman out for a well-played 163. Ammad Butt scored a boundary-laden 54 batting. Bismillah Khan (32) and Yasir Shah (31) also added useful runs. Left-arm spinner M Irfan was Southern Punjab’s leading wicket-taker, claiming five wickets for 131 runs. This was his 15th five-wicket haul at this level.