Daily Times

QUETTA: A valiant century by Hussain Talat helped Balochistan secure a draw against Southern Punjab in four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy sixth-round fixture at Quetta’s Bugti Stadium on Wednesday. At 30 for two while following-on and still a 177-run trail remaining, Balochistan, in a contest which was live-streamed on the PCB’s YouTube channel, were in a precarious situation when play resumed on Thursday morning. Their problems amplified as they lost two wickets for 14 runs and were reduced to 44 for five.

But, Hussain, with his solid technique denied Southern Punjab bowlers any further inroads and stitched a 167-run partnership for the sixth-wicket with wicketkeeper-batsman Bismillah Khan – who scored 50 runs from 102 balls, hitting six fours and a six. Bismillah’s dismissal, which left Balochistan at 211 for six, opened up the possibility for Southern Punjab to secure their second win of the tournament. Hussain, however, kept pushing the opposition bowlers back and scored a remarkable 136 off 167.

The all-rounder cracked 17 fours and four sixes in his 240-minute stay at the crease, before he was removed by Rahat Ali, who recorded his career’s 12th five-fer. The left-arm medium-fast took five for 49 in 24 overs. Mohammad Irfan jnr was the other notable bowler as his right-arm medium-fast accounted for three Balochistan’s wickets for 64 runs. Balochistan were all-out for 295 in the evening session, setting an 89-run target in 13 overs for Southern Punjab to win the match. The two captains shook hands 2.3 overs into the final innings of the match, with the scorecard reading 11 without the loss of any wicket and Sami Aslam and Umar Siddique batting at six and two. Southern Punjab travel to Abbottabad to take on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while Balochistan play Central Punjab at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa v Sindh at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium: Play was not possible for the second consecutive day at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium due to heavy rains. Sindh had scored 147 for three in 36 overs by the close of play on Tuesday in their reply of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first innings 288 all-out. As happened in the third round action where first innings between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab, and Northern and Sindh remained incomplete due to weather and batting and bowling points were awarded on the basis of where the matches concluded, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa received two batting points for scoring 288 and one point for taking three wickets, while Sindh received three bowling point for bowling-out Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Sindh host Northern at National Stadium in Karachi.

Scores in brief

1: Southern Punjab 502 all-out, 129.3 overs (Sami Aslam 168, Umar Siddique 130, Adnan Akmal 80, Abdul Rehman Muzamil 41, Sohaib Maqsood 36, Mohammad Irfan 23; Mohammad Asghar 5-130; Amad Butt 4-103) and 11-0, 2.3 overs (Sami Aslam 6 not out, Umar Siddique 2 not out) VS Balochistan 295 all-out, overs 79.3 overs (Hussain Talat 89, Imran Farhat 65, Bismillah Khan 36, Amad Butt 32, Imran Butt 23; Umaid 5-57, Mohammad Irfan jnr 2-53, Zahid Mahmood 2-57) and after follow-on 295 all-out, 89.4 overs (Hussain Talat 136, Bismillah Khan 50; Rahat Ali 5-49, Mohammad Irfan jnr 3-64)

Result: Match Drawn

2: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa v Sindh, Abbottabad Cricket Stadium

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 288 all-out, 106 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 88, Rehan Afridi 57 not out, Sajid Khan 39, Israrullah 36, Zohaib Khan 28; Sohail Khan 4-62, Hassan Khan 2-37, Mir Hamza 2-65) VS Sindh 147-3, 36 overs (Omair Bin Yousaf 56, Saud Shakeel 35 not out, Fawad Alam 29 not out; Junaid Khan 2-49)

Result: Match Drawn