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Karachi, 4 November 2019: Northern made a strong start to their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament round-six first-class match against Central Punjab by bowling out the hosts for 226 runs on day-one of the four-day match at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Monday.
Left-arm-spinner Nauman Ali who is captaining Northern in the match led from the front collecting eight wickets for 71 runs in 20.1 overs as Central Punjab were spun-out for a below-par first innings total.
Central Punjab won the toss and opted to bat first; the first session was evenly shared between the two sides as Central Punjab reached 105 for two at lunch.
In the post-lunch session Northern bowlers held the upper hand, Central Punjab lost four additional wickets to finish the session at 198 for six.
Captain Ahmed Shehzad (55 off 112 balls, nine fours), Umar Akmal (52 off 66 balls, three fours and three sixes) and Salman Butt (41 off 59 balls, six fours) were the main run getters for the hosts.
In the post-tea session, Nauman took all four wickets to fall as Central Punjab lost their last four wickets for the addition of 28 runs. This was Nauman’s best-ever bowling in a first-class innings.
Northern openers batted with confidence in reply, ending the day at 47 for one in 10 overs. Haider Ali was the only wicket to fall; he was dismissed by Aizaz Cheema for 12 runs.
Northern’s captain and wicketkeeper-batsman Rohail Nazir was ruled out of the match due to a hand injury, Nauman replaced him as captain with Jamal Anwar donning the gloves.
Scores in brief:
Central Punjab 226 all out, 69.1 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 55, Umar Akmal 52, Salman Butt 41; Nauman Ali 8-71)
Northern 47 for 1, 10 overs (Umer Amin 19 not out; Aizaz Cheema 1-23)
