Rawalpindi complete innings victory

Centuries from Shoaib Nasir, Naved Malik and Zahir Mansoor helped Rawalpindi beat Bahawalpur by an innings and 130 runs. Rawalpindi batted first, with openers Nasir (112) and Naved (127) putting on 228 for the first wicket. Contributions flowed from the rest of the order thereafter, with Zahid finishing unbeaten on 103 as Rawalpindi declared on 536 for 7.

Facing an immense challenge, Bahawalpur were in dire straits as both openers went with just 3 on the board. Despite contributions from some of the middle order batsmen, Bahawalpur folded to 151, with Haseeb Azam and Akhtar Ayub taking four wickets each. Still 385 runs behind, it was imperative the openers gave Bahawalpur a good start, but that failed to come to fruition as they were both dismissed with just 17 on the board. Adeel Basit's 114 was the stand out innings, and despite contributions from Faisal Mubashir (42) and Rehan Rafiq (39), the team were unable to reach the necessary target as they were dismissed for 255, giving Rawalpindi the innings victory.

Karachi Whites started their campaign on the right food with an innings and 20-run victory over Lahore Shalimar. Karachi Whites began strongly with Asif Zakir (114) and Fazal Subhan (155) putting on a 283-run opening stand. However, once the stand ended, wickets began to fall regularly, with eight wickets falling in the space of 83 runs. Shahzaib Ahmed added 61 to help prop Karachi Whites to 430. Waqar Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 104.

After being reduced to 12 for 2, Waqas Saleem and Umar Siddiq put on a 115-run stand to help steady Lahore Shalimar's innings. Junaid Ali (49), Waqar (33) and Mustafa Iqbal (27) helped Lahore Shalimar to 270, but it was not enough to prevent the follow-on, with Karachi Whites promptly sending Lahore Shalimar back in. Their second effort went pear-shaped as Babar Rehman and Faheem Ahmed left Lahore Shalimar's batsmen in disarray. Only four batsmen got into double figures as Lahore Shalimar folded to 140, giving Karachi Whites an innings and 20 runs victory.

The opening Quaid-e-Azam trophy match between Hyderabad and Quetta played out to a tame draw in Hyderabad. After being put into bat, Hyderabad looked in trouble at 62 for 4 before Faisal Athar and Zafar Ali put on 164 for the fourth wicket to help steady the innings. Zafar fell on 60, and innings from Shoaib Laghari (61) and Mir Ali (75), helped Hyderabad to 435. Athar top-scored with 143, while Shahzad Tareen took best bowling figures of 5 for 111.

Quetta started strongly, with the openers putting on 47, but seemed to lose wickets at regular intervals as, apart from Taimur Khan's 110, the rest of the batsmen failed to put on meaningful scores. Nasir Awais was the pick of the bowlers for Hyderabad with 5 for 98. Hyderabad's innings started grimly after they were reduced to 31 for 3, but Mohammad Shehbaz's unbeaten 54, along with Athar's 44, helped rescue the team from a sorry state. Hyderabad reached 156 for 5 as the match petered out to a draw.

Abottabad and Karachi Blues drew their first match of the tournament in Karachi. Abottabad batted first, losing opener Waqar Orakzai off the first ball of the innings. After being reduced to 22 for 3, Mohammad Naeem (75) and Khalilullah (53) salvaged the position somewhat, before Rehan Afridi's inbeaten 139 helped prop Abbottabad's innings to 367. In reply, Karachi Blues put on a fine show, with Ashraf Ali narrowly missing a century with 96, and Faraz Ahmed supporting him with 86. Karachi Blues were dismissed for 343, with Aziz-ur-Rehman taking 3 for 84.

Centuries from Mohammad Naeem and Afridi ensured Abottabad put up a stiff target to chase. Both Waqar Anwar and Faraz Ahmed took four wickets, but were unable to prevent Abbottabad from putting up 343. With 368 to chase, and not much time left in the match, openers Behram Khan and Rajesh Ramesh held around for three overs to finish 24 for 0.

Sialkot completed an innings and 52-run victory over Lahore Ravi to get their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy campaign off on the right foot. After being put into bat, Sialkot imposed themselves with a 73-run stand for the opening wicket. Their batting line-up all contributed with Faisal Khan, Naved Sarwar and Mansoor Amjad posting fifties to help Sialkot score 382. Adnan Danish and Aleem Yousuf were the pick of the bowlers, picking up 4 for 103 and 3 for 98 respectively.

Lahore Ravi were simply unable to post significant partnerships, with wickets falling at regular intervals. The opening bowlers for Sialkot, Adnan Ghaus and Hasan Ali, combined for seven wickets as Lahore Ravi were skittled out for 110. As they didn't meet the follow-on target, Lahore Ravi were invited to bat for a second time, and while they did pass 200, they still didn't reach the necessary target of 282 and fell short by 52 runs. Only Zeeshan Ali and Danish hit fifties, while Nabeel Malik's 4 for 98, and Amjad's 3 for 30 were the best bowling performances of the innings.

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WAPDA complete 213-run victory

Water and Power Development Authority completed an emphatic 213-run victory over Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited. WAPDA batted first, putting up a strong first innings total of 311, led by Aamer Sajjad (81) and Adnan Raees (68). Imran Khan was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 70, and was ably supported by Zafar Gohar's 3 for 60. ZTBL's reply was rather flat as they only scored 185, with Naved-ul-Hasan doing the most damage with 4 for 28. Only Yasir Hameed stood out with his score of 70.

WAPDA then added 237 in their second innings, with Mohammad Ayub scoring 64. This created a target of 364 for ZTBL, and it was vital that the top order provided useful starts. However, this would not be the case as Sharjeel Khan and Imran Nazir were the only batsmen to hit fifties as ZTBL folded for just 150, with each of the WAPDA bowlers taking at least two wickets.

The opening match between Faisalabad and Multan petered out to a draw in Faisalabad. Multan batted first and posted 427, with Usman Liaqat top-scoring with 176. Contributions from Waqar Hussain (51) and Kashif Naved (64) did not go amiss, while Adnan Munir was the pick of the bowlers with 5 for 101. In reply, Faisalabad put up an impressive 475, courtesy lower-order centuries from Zeeshan Butt (102) and Fahim Ashraf (116). Both Shahbaz Hussain and Asif Fawad took four wickets a piece, as Faisalabad held a slight lead of 48 runs. Multan batted well again in their second innings, with Ahmed Rasheed making 99, while Mohammad Imran finished unbeaten on 51, as the teams held for a draw.

State Bank of Pakistan completed a 133-run victory over Habib Bank Limited in Islamabad. After opting to bat, SBP put on 226, thanks largely to fifties from Raheel Majeed and Usman Saeed. Ehsan Adil and Sarmad Anwar were the pick of the Habib Bank bowlers, taking 5 for 53 and 3 for 37 respectively. Habib Bank matched SBP's first innings score with key contributions from Hasan Raza (45), Rameez Aziz (43) and Adil (40). Saad Altaf took a five-for as things remained even-stevens.

SBP put on a sizable 293 in their second innings, with Rizwan Haider's 60 the top score. Sarmad took 4 for 80 and was ably supported by Mohammad Aslam's 3 for 50. With 294 to chase, Habib Bank looked in trouble as they lost both their openers for just 8 runs. The middle order simply did not capitalise on their starts as Tabish Khan ran through the line-up to finish with 5 for 67. Mohammad Naved also chipped in by taking 3 for 46 as Habib Bank was dismissed for 160.

National Bank of Pakistan kicked off their President's Trophy campaign with a seven-wicket win over Pakistan International Airlines in Sialkot. After being put into bat, PIA posted just 135 in their first innings as Hammad Azam and Zia-ul-Haq ran through the order, picking up four and three wickets respectively.

Despite losing opener Anwaar Hafeez inside the first over, Sami Aslam (109) and Kamran Akmal (53) ensured NBP did not make the same mistakes as they scored 278. Shoaib Malik was the pick of the PIA bowlers with 5 for 78. Facing a 143-run deficit, PIA did their best to run up a big total, but faltered as NBP's bowlers, led by Adnan Rasool's 4 for 64, restricted them to 218 in the second innings. Only Malik and No. 9 Rafaiy Safdar posted fifties in the second innings for PIA. With just 76 to chase, NBP did the needful in just under 19 overs.

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited began their title defence with a five-run win over Port Qasim Authority in Rawalpindi. SNGPL opted to bat first, but lost wickets at regular intervals and were restricted to 178 by PQA's bowlers, led by Abdur Rauf's 5 for 52. PQA's openers put on 34 but the rest of their batsmen struggled to make meaningful contributions. Medium pacer Imran Ali led SNGPL's charge, taking 8 for 42 as PQA were skittled for 132. With a slight lead of 46 runs, it was imperative SNGPL put on a strong total to build a sizeable lead.

However, the PQA bowlers reduced SNGPL to 33 for 4 early on, with each of the bowlers chipping in. Only Ali Waqas and Khurram Shehzad posted over 30 runs, as Mohammad Talha and Mohammad Sami picked up 4 for 26 and 3 for 26 respectively to dismiss SNGPL for 110. Chasing 157, Imran Ali's 5 for 55 tore through the top and middle order but PQA were still in sight of victory at 138 for 8, needing another 19 runs, but Sohail Khan's wicket on 151 meant they fell just short of the target.

Khan Research Laboratories beat Pakistan Television by six wickets to register an opening win in the competition. Pakistan Television batted first and only put on 125, with Sadaf Hussain (5 for 36) doing most damage, ably supported by Yasir Arafat's 3 for 57. In reply, KRL put on 159, boosted by No. 10 Umaid Asif's counterattacking 47 off 57 balls. Rizwan Akbar starred with the ball for PTV, taking 5 for 47, and Waqar Ahmed chipped in with 3 for 40.

Imran Ali and Haroon Ahmed put on a better show in the second innings for PTV, adding 91 for the first wicket. But down the order, apart from Rizwan Ahmed's 74, the rest of the batting folded without much fight. PTV lost wickets in clusters at several points in the innings, with four wickets falling for just 10 runs towards the end. Facing a chase of 200 runs, KRL overhauled the target without too much trouble. Saeed Anwar jnr's 74 and Usman Salahuddin's unbeaten 62 helped KRL reach the total within 42 overs.

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England Women complete Ashes thrashing of Australia Women with third Twenty20 win

By comfortably winning the third Twenty20 international with seven wickets and 3.4 overs to spare, England Women completed their drubbing of Australia Women to win their multi-format Ashes by 12 points to four.

While the Test was drawn in Australia’s favour – with two points for each side – England won the one-day series 2-1 and the Twenty20 series 3-0, sealing the first multi-format series for either gender.

Australia had overtaken England as the leading country for women’s cricket by winning the last 50-over and 20-over World Cups.

“A bit more self-belief,” was what England’s captain Charlotte Edwards said was the key difference, which was particularly evident when England twice chased down their target. “And we’ve won the key moments.”

The third T20 international did not make a good advertisement for women’s cricket because Australia’s batting was poor. The attraction of 20-over cricket lies in big hitting, and Australia could hit only five fours, even though the boundaries were 10 yards further in than for the men’s match that followed.

The best features of the game were England’s fielding, the wicketkeeping on both sides, Australia’s pace bowling and the batting of Lydia Greenway who followed her match-winning 80 – the highest for England in a T20 – in the second international with another unbeaten innings of 35.

Katherine Brunt was player of the match, partly for her opening spell but also for a direct hit run-out from deepish cover that set the standard for England’s fielding. There was no unforced error except one when the England captain’s knees let her down.

Australia’s opening bowling pegged England back to 14 for three as they chased only 92, but it was also pacy enough to offer scope for back-foot shots. There have been bowlers who have consistently reached 70mph – notably Brunt, Ellyse Perry and India’s Jhulan Goswami – but Holly Ferling, a willowy 17-year-old, could raise the bar to new heights.

For the moment, the challenge is hitting boundaries when there is little pace on the ball, and Greenway solved it with her similarities to Eoin Morgan as a wristy left-hander who loves to reverse-sweep.

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