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. 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. 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) VS 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.