Sami Aslam on song in Abbottabad

Lahore:Sami Aslam of Southern Punjab strengthened his position at the top of the run-getters list with another sublime century as his side’s four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fizzled into a draw in Abbottabad on Thursday.

The left-handed opener remained unbeaten on 150, his fourth century of the season, that took him to 833 runs in seven matches – 158 runs ahead of his closest rival Ashfaq Ahmed, who has 675 runs.

Sami’s 324-minute innings allowed Southern Punjab to finish their second innings at 337 for five, after they had conceded a 79-run first innings lead.

Sami’s 254-ball innings was studded with 15 fours and a six, and he added 165 runs for the second-wicket with Zeeshan Ashraf who was unlucky to miss his century by six runs. Zeeshan was ruthless in his 112-ball innings, clubbing nine fours and six sixes.

For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, fast bowler Irfanullah Shah took three wickets for 33 runs.

Meanwhile, due to unexpected weather conditions in Abbottabad and to ensure maximum cricket is played, the PCB’s domestic cricket department has decided to shift Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s eighth round match against Balochistan to the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi. The match will start on Monday, 18 November with the same match officials named earlier.

Scores in brief:

Southern Punjab 338 all-out, 100.3 overs (Umar Siddiq 88, Sohaib Maqsood 57, Salman Ali Agha 45, Sami Aslam 38, Zeeshan Ashraf 25; Ahmed Jamal 6-93, Junaid Khan 2-89) and 337-5d (Sami Aslam 150 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Sohaib Maqsood 38, Agha Salman Ali 24 not out; Irfanullah Khan 3-33)

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 417-5d, 113 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 143, Rehan Afridi 84 not out, Zohaib Khan 63 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 47, Adil Amin 37, Fakhar Zaman 23; Umaid Asif 3-142)

Result – Match drawn