Pakistan News & Features Services
Aftab Qureshi XI reached the Punjab regional semifinals of the 16th National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2014 by defeating Askari Greens by six runs in the quarter-finals held at Zahoor Elahi Stadium, Gujrat.
Batting first, Aftab Qureshi XI scored 208 in 29.3 overs with Sohail Idrees (41), Hanif Butt (29), Rasheed Feroz (28) and Farrukh Shahzad (27) being the principal scores as their progress was kept in check by Asif Ahmed (2-35) and Naseer Ahmed (2-38).
Askari Greens came up with a befitting reply, mainly through Raza Butt (65 not out), Mansoob Elahi (64) and Sharifullah (39) but the tables were turned by Mohsin Aftab (4-23) and Tahir Saeed (2-32) who restricted them to 202 for eight in the allotted 30 overs.
Meanwhile Anwar Ahmad’s unbeaten century guided Yaqoob XI into quarter-finals as they overpowered Wah Karigars by 33 runs in the pre-quarter-finals played at the Swedish College Ground in Gujrat.
Anwar Ahmad’s punishing knock of 115 enabled Yaqoob XI to post a total of 230 for eight in the stipulated 30 overs with Rifaqat Ali (46) and Mohammad Yaqoob (18) being the other leading scorers while the bowling honours were shared by Mohammad Pervez (3-36) and Nadeem Ahmed (2-23).
Wah Karigars, in reply, was bowled out for 197 in 28.3 overs despite fine knocks from Tanvir Akmal (39), Aamir Ali (25), Aftab Ahmed (24) and Usman Tahir (20) as the innings was wrecked by the duo of Mohammad Ramzan (3-43) and Sohail Mushtaq (3-47).
A record number of 108 teams from 58 cities had entered the 16th National Seniors Cup. They included 35 city teams from Punjab, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight from Sindh, three from Islamabad and one from FATA.
The southern region competition has already concluded and the winners, Omar Associates, will take on the champions of the north region in the national final to be played in Lahore later this month. The event is being jointly sponsored by Arif Habib Corporation Limited and Omar Associates (Pvt) Limited.
