Central Punjab, Northern book U16 One-Day Tournament's final berths
Both teams won four of their five matches and were ended up with eight points each.
RAWALPINDI (Dunya News) – Central Punjab U16 and Northern U16 will play the final of the PCB National U16 One-Day Tournament on 23 February at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi. Both teams won their respective matches in the fifth and final round of the tournament on Sunday.
Slow left-arm Momin Qamar’s four-fer and captain Azan Awais’ solid 89 not out scripted Central Punjab’s comfortable nine-wicket win against Sindh, while Northern, helped by Shamyl Hussain’s 73-ball 60, sealed a close two-wicket win over Southern Punjab.
Both teams won four of their five matches and were ended up with eight points each.
In the other match of the round, Shahzaib Khan’s breezy century helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U16, who finished third on six points with three wins, beat Balochistan U16 by 64 runs.
Central Punjab U16 v Sindh U16 at Ayub Park Cricket Ground:
Momin Qamar’s four for 30 played a vital role in helping his team bowl out Sindh for 171 after Central Punjab captain Azan Awais decided to field after winning the toss.
Right-arm pacers Ibtisam Rehman and Awais Ali took two wickets each for 22 and 26 runs.
It was because of the contributions in the middle-order by Hassan Iqbal and Abdul Rehman that Sindh bowlers had something to bowl at after half of their batting line-up was back in the pavilion with just 81 runs on the board.
Hassan top-scored with 48 from 67, while Abdul Rehman made 32 off 65. Opener Saad Baig made 39 off 57 and hit five fours.
Azan led his team’s run-chase from front as he posted an unbeaten 89 and smashed 13 off the 113 balls that he faced for fours. He stitched a solid 119-run stand for the first wicket with Musa Azeem, who made 48, which sealed the win for Central Punjab with 5.1 overs spare.
Ubaid Shahid was not out on 28.
Northern U16 v Southern Punjab U16 at Rawal Cricket Ground:
Northern chased down 153-run target in 37.4 overs thanks to Shamyl’s 73-ball 60 in which he crunched nine fours and one six. The chase was made interesting by slow left-armers Moheer Saeed and Mustaqeem Faisal who took three for 45 and two for 31, respectively.
Northern’s Iftikhar Ahmed took three wickets for 31, while Amir Hassan, Mohammad Ibraheem Sultan and Ihsan Ullah took two wickets each after Southern Punjab opted to bat.
The only notable performance with the bat came from number seven Sameer Minhas, who scored 39 off 59. Southern Punjab were bowled out in 38.4 overs.
Balochistan U16 v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa U16 at Pindi Cricket Stadium
Shahzaib Khan smashed eight fours in his 135-ball 105 and helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa post an imposing 241 for four in 45 overs. The opener spent 199 minutes at the crease and stitched a 91-run stand with Mohammad Salman, who made 32 off 58 balls.
Khubaib Khalil and Riaz Ullah made notable contributions lower down the order with the scores of 27 and 33 not out.
Balochistan managed 177 for nine following a middle-order collapse which left them reeling at 78 for five after openers – Duniya Khan (40 off 39) and Ikram Ullah (20 off 34) – put a 52-run partnership for the first wicket.
Sajjad Khan made a half-century as he scored 53 off 66 and smashed five fours and two sixes.
Mohammad Irfan took three wickets for 13 runs, while Mohammad Tahir accounted for two batsmen.
