Cricket: Manzoor century drives home Blues’ advantage

Bad light, rain affect three matches in Quaid Trophy.

KARACHI: Karachi Blues kicked off their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy campaign against Quetta, ending the opening day with 287 for two on the scoreboard after half the scheduled matches were rained off in other parts of the country.

Khurram Manzoor was the top-scorer for the Blues in Karachi with an unbeaten 153. His impressive knock comprised 15 boundaries and a six. Captain Faisal Iqbal also remained not-out on 64 off just 85 balls that included eight fours.

The other two matches in the group – Lahore Ravi v Sialkot and Islamabad v Multan – did not see even a single ball being bowled due to rain and bad light.

Cheema’s six restricts Karachi Whites

In Group II, Karachi Whites, after opting to bat first, were dismissed for 170. Fawad Alam top-scored with 53 while Lahore’s Aizaz Cheema inflicted the most damage, picking up six wickets for 62 runs. In reply, Lahore went to stumps at 91 for one with Imran Butt ending the day unbeaten on 45.

Meanwhile, in another match, Abbottabad were all out for 228 against Hyderabad. Yasir Hameed top-scored with 84, hitting eleven fours while Hyderabad’s Zahid Mahmood picked up five wickets for 58. The opening day of the match between Faisalabad and debutant Bahawalpur region saw no play due to bad light.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 29^th, 2012.