LAHORE - May 13, 2015: The 10th Mohtarma Fatima Jinnah National Women Cricket Championship (Seniors) 2015 rolled into action here across four venues of the city on Wednesday.
On the opening day, ZTBL, SAIF Sports Saga (SSS), Multan and Islamabad won their respective matches. Star-studded ZTBL thrashed Karachi Region by 319 runs, Saif Sports Saga defeated HEC by six wickets, Multan outplayed Peshawar by eight wickets and Islamabad edged to a two wickets win over Faisalabad.
At Aleem Dar Academy ground, ZTBL hammered a huge total of 416 runs in allotted 50 overs. With two centuries from Javeria Khan (161) and Bismah Maroof (102) and Nida Dar’s 53, Karachi Region attack failed to find a way to bowl to these star girls. Nahida Khan (23), Javeria Rauf (34) and Sania Khan (23), played their part in the team’s total. Karachi’s off-break bowler Salmana Zulfiqar was the successful bowler who grabbed three wickets while Subhana Tariq had two and Areeba Ashraf got one.
In reply, Karachi could only reach 97 runs in 29.2 overs as Anam Amin and Nida Dar did the main damage by taking three and two wickets respectively while Sania Khan, Marium Shafique and Pakistan captain Sana Mir shared one wicket each. Arman Khan 37, Azra Yamna 11 and Rida Hussain 12 were the Karachi players who reached double figures. Javeria Khan was later declared the player of the match.
At Bagh-i-Jinnah’s Gymkhana Ground, SAIF Sports Saga first bowled out HEC at 132 in 44.5 overs and later overhauled the score making 133/4 in 33.2 overs. For HEC, Fazila Ikhlaq 11, Alia Riaz 22, Sania Ashraf 20, Kainat Hafeez 14 and Natalia Pervaiz 11 were the players who reached double figures. Aiman Anwar trapped four batters, Bakhtawar Iqbal got three while Ramin Shamim, Mariam Hasan and Hafsa Khalid took one wicket apiece.
In reply, SSS was seen home by Sana Taj who scored 54 while Ramin Shamim 17, Sana Urooj 16 and Ayesha Zafar 21 not out were their other key scorers. Alia Riaz and Kainat Hafeez shared two wickets each in their team’s big loss. Aiman of Saga was the star player.
At Model Town Academy ground, Multan defeated Peshawar by eight wickets. Peshawar was reduced to 82 for all in 37.5 overs and later Multan scored 83 runs for two wickets in 20.1 overs. Peshawar’s main scorers were Sana Liaqat 21, Arifa Hasan 18, SalmaFiaz 17 not out, while Sana Gulzar nipped in with four wickets with Asma Bano, Nadia Hussain and Kalsoom Hanif sharing two wickets each.
On their part, Saga team’s top order saw off the score in which Sukhan Fiaz 28, Areeb Shamaim 32 not out and Sana Gulzar (6 not out) were prominent. Afsheen Gul took one wicket. Sana for her perfect bowling got the player of the match award.
At Model Town Stags ground, Islamabad fought till the end to tame Faisalabad. Faisalabad banking on Umme Hani’s 51 and Uzma Younis’s 13 gathered 113 runs in 38 overs but Islamabad achieved 120 runs in 25.4 overs losing eight wickets. Nazish Akram 32 not out and Hina Shafique 34 played a major part in their team’s win. For Islamabad, Komal Jabbar had four wickets while Anoshay Malik and Samina Bibi shared two and one wicket respectively and from their rival Peshawar attack Umme Hani jolted the winner’s four wickets with Rabia Basri and Iram Shahzadi shared one wicket each.
