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Rubel Hossain led a spirited charge by the Bangladesh attack that Had New Zealand in trouble before Brendon McCullum and Martin Guptill rescued them to 258 for 5 on the first day in Hamilton

The Bulletin by Andrew Fernando14-Feb-2010
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details
How they were outMartin Guptill stood tall, even as his batting mates failed, and carried New Zealand’s hopes in Hamilton, along with Brendon McCullum•Getty Images

An unbroken 100-run partnership between Martin Guptill and Brendon McCullum helped New Zealand stage a comeback on the first day in the one off Test at Seddon Park. The pair combined with the home side struggling at 158 for 5, but batted with assurance till stumps to rescue them from a dodgy position.New Zealand were pushed to a corner by the Bangladesh seamers who made good use of a green, seaming wicket after a rain-delayed start. Shafiul Islam bowled an immaculate line and length throughout his first spell, beating the bats of both New Zealand openers repeatedly before getting one to seam slightly away from Tim McIntosh who edged to Imrul Kayes at second slip.Rubel Hossain then took over, bowling at a lively pace and finding consistency in the afternoon session to trouble the New Zealand top order with a barrage of short-pitched deliveries. He was the pick of the visiting bowlers, ending with 3 for 86. After accounting for opener BJ Watling, Rubel added the scalps of debutant Peter Ingram and Ross Taylor, who both promised a lot in their aggressive knocks.Ingram’s announced his arrival, following McIntosh’s departure, with a flurry of powerfully hit boundaries through the off side while Watling struggled to an unconvincing 13 at the other end. Ingram eventually holed out to mid on, attempting to pull Rubel from wide outside off stump, ending a 47-ball innings that included an enormous straight six off Shakib Al Hasan.In the afternoon session, Taylor continued to bat as aggressively as he has done throughout the tour, dealing in boundaries through point and mid wicket, but was again unable deliver a big innings that would have given his side the advantage. A fuller Rubel delivery was to be his demise, as he edged behind leaving the team total on 126 for 4.Daniel Vettori, batting at six in the absence of Jesse Ryder and Grant Elliott, was unable to make an impression, getting to 10 before dancing past a Shakib Al Hasan delivery that clipped the top of the off stump. His dismissal left the hosts teetering at 158 for 5, and in desperate need of rescue mission.Martin Guptill led the recovery, continuing his sparkling form from the ODIs to end unbeaten on 80 at stumps. After being dropped on 4 by Shafiul, attempting to complete a sharp return chance, Guptill batted impeccably, keeping out a menacing Bangladesh attack, and driving handsomely down the ground and through the covers on a regular basis to keep the scoreboard ticking over. The pull shot was also used to good effect towards the end of the day, as the Bangladesh seamers’ short deliveries became less effective as the bounce got steadily lower.New Zealand’s highest partnership of the day between Guptill and Brendon McCullum, who ended on an unbeaten 58 from just 71 deliveries, revived their hopes of a sizeable first innings total. The unbroken century stand, a New Zealand record against Bangladesh for the sixth wicket, looked set to resuscitate the innings before bad light stopped play. Bangladesh will be pleased with the way they have competed, but will need to make early breakthroughs tomorrow to stand any chance of pulling off an unexpected victory.

Surenkumar makes fighting fifty in rain-affected run-chase at Edgbaston Community Ground

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay07-Sep-2025Essex secured some belated joy from their disappointing Metro Bank Women’s One-Day Cup campaign with a 31-run (DLS) victory over Warwickshire at the Edgbaston Community Sports Ground.Put in, the visitors totalled 235 for seven from 32 overs either side of a long rainstorm which arrived in the 13th over. Jo Gardner top-scored with 47 (34 balls) while Bears captain Georgia Davis took four for 35.Facing a revised DLS target of 232 from 32 overs, Warwickshire mustered only 204 for eight in murky light despite an accomplished maiden half-century from 18-year-old Amu Surenkumar (56, 54). Her team-mates were unpicked by an attack led by Abtaha Maqsood (three for 34) and Esmae MacGregor (three for 38) as Essex recorded only their second win in 12 50-over games this season.On a gloomy morning at Portland Road, Essex got off to a flier as opening batters Ariana Dowse (36, 44) and Grace Scrivens added 67 from 61 balls before falling in successive overs just before the rain. Scrivens chipped Phoebe Brett to mid off before Dowse nicked a waft at Davis to wicketkeeper Nat Wraith.After a lengthy interruption, Essex resumed with only 32 overs now at their disposal and again lost wickets in consecutive overs. Sophia Smale lifted Hannah Baker to long off and Fiona Miller missed a sweep and was lbw to Davis.Jodi Grewcock (39, 34) and Gardner restored some momentum with a stand of 69 in 49 balls before Davis hit Grewcock’s middle stump through an attempted cut. Six balls later, Warwickshire’s captain was at long off to take a catch sent up by Gardner off Surenkumar who repaid her skipper in the next over by catching Eva Gray at long off to supply Davis’ fourth wicket.Essex needed some late impetus and Sophie Munro (36, 19) and Amara Carr (17, 12) provided it with a punchy unbroken stand of 55 from the last 29 balls.Warwickshire’s reply began briskly with a stand of 40 in six overs between Meg Austin and Bethan Ellis but they both fell, bowled and lbw respectively, to lovely, flighted deliveries by Maqsood. Munro quickly followed up with the big wicket of Davina Perrin who chopped to backward point.Surenkumar and Abbey Freeborn added 52 in 50 balls before the latter walked across her stumps to sweep MacGregor who hit the exposed timber. Much depended on Surenkumar who hit a six and five fours on her way to a run-a-ball half-century but when she swung Maqsood to deep mid-wicket, Warwickshire’s lower order needed to find 73 from 44 balls. The departure of Issy Wong, who lifted Munro to long leg, left Essex to ease home to a rare victory.

“The game is moving forward and so fast these days from the batters, so when you are not on top of your game [as a bowler], it’s hard,” says RCB captain

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Apr-20242:28

Why did RCB open the bowling with Will Jacks?

After losing their fifth game in a row, this time out-hit at the Chinnaswamy as Sunrisers Hyderabad’s smashed a record 287 for 3, Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis admitted that such results could take a mental toll.Even though RCB scored an impressive 262 for 7 in response, the runs conceded in the first innings were simply too many to overhaul, and he put it down to a lack of confidence in the bowling group. RCB came into this match having leaked 199 in 15.3 overs against Mumbai Indians in their last outing but started the match with only five bowlers, with Mohammed Siraj on the bench.”It’s tough, we tried quite a few things, a few different things, and they weren’t quite working,” du Plessis said after the match. “So it’s a sign of confidence in the other group. When your confidence is low, there’s nowhere to hide in the game.Related

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“The game is moving forward and so fast these days from the batters, so when you are not on top of your game [as a bowler], it’s hard. Obviously, with five bowlers, it’s tough on a wicket like that. We are going to keep trying different things.”Du Plessis said taking a break to reset might be the best thing for his side before their next game on Sunday against Kolkata Knight Riders. As it stands, RCB have very slim qualification chances; even if they win each of their remaining seven games, it may not be enough.”One thing really important is you need to go away and freshen your mind, it’s such a mental game,” he said. “Sometimes when we have a couple of back-to-back defeats, it feels like your mind is going to explode.”It’s important to stay away from it and make sure that we do get back to the next challenge – which is obviously a little bit of an uphill task for us at the moment – but when we do get back to the contest, we show full commitment 100%.”Faf du Plessis made 62•BCCI

‘Proud to see the boys fought tonight’

After being stunned into silence by Sunrisers’ assault, the home fans at the Chinnaswamy did get to enjoy their own side putting up the season’s fourth-highest score of 262.It was set up by du Plessis’ 28-ball 62, Virat Kohli’s 20-ball 42 and a 35-ball 83 from Dinesh Karthik, who together took RCB to a score only one short of the franchise’s highest IPL score of 263 for 5 from IPL 2013. Du Plessis said he was most pleased with how the team did not “fall like a deck of cards” in the chase.”Great effort from the team to get closer to the target,” he said. “Similarly from the batting perspective, we need to work on a few areas. There were some errors we need to address as a batting unit, there was a little bit of dip after the powerplay, [that] is something we want to work on. Need to make sure the run rate doesn’t go down and we keep going because the game has evolved and changed with the scores the teams are putting now.”But really proud to see the boys fought tonight and put up their hand and never gave up. In a big chase like this, you often see teams falling like a deck of cards. Great to see the fight tonight. But from a bowling perspective, 30-40 runs too much.”

The 21-year-old swing bowler has revelled in West Indies with one eye on T20 World Cup

Valkerie Baynes13-Dec-2022Lauren Bell stands to embody the fearless style of play England Women are aiming to carry into next year’s T20 World Cup and beyond.Bell, the 21-year-old right-arm swing bowler, will mark six months since her international debut just after Christmas as part of a group of youngsters awarded an opportunity over the English summer by former head coach Lisa Keightley.The thing that has stood out about Bell, 20-year-old quick Issy Wong and teenage allrounders Alice Capsey and Freya Kemp since taking the step up is their apparent refusal to be intimidated by the opposition.It’s an approach new head coach Jon Lewis has doubled down on, calling for his entire England squad to stop playing safe. Lewis is also big on encouraging players to trust in the skills and talent that got them into the elite set-up as opposed to constantly telling them what to do, and Bell seems to be embracing that faith.”It’s been great to have new coaches in around the squad and John has come in and really drove us to be inspiring and entertaining for anyone who’s watching women’s cricket,” she said from Barbados on Tuesday, a day after arriving from Antigua for the remaining four fixtures in a five-match T20I series with West Indies. “It’s a really good way to view the game and it’s moving in the right direction.”The West Indies has been a good tour so far. The confidence I have from the coaches, the backing of the coaches, and the backing of Heather [Knight], the captain, it’s just put me in a really good place. I feel like I know my role in this team and I know where I where I stand. Being really valued and part of the team has played a big role in that.”Related

• Freya Kemp diagnosed with stress fracture of back after returning from Caribbean tour

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• Alice Capsey suffers broken collarbone in fielding accident

• Lauren Bell claims four wickets to seal series for England with a game to spare

• Freya Kemp ruled out of West Indies tour due to back injury

Bell made her debut in the drawn Test against South Africa in Taunton, where she took two first-innings wickets and bowled an economical if wicketless 14 overs in the visitors’ second innings.Going into last Tuesday’s second ODI against West Indies, she had three wickets from four matches in the format before claiming a devastating 4 for 33 as England crushed the hosts by 142 runs. Then, on Sunday, in just her third T20I, she claimed 3 for 26 to set up an eight-wicket victory which leaves the home side staring down the prospect of another England clean sweep after the ODIs finished 3-0.West Indies’ batting has been poor, while Bell has revelled in the conditions producing some wonderful swinging deliveries that have left them flummoxed. And while she will come up against tougher opposition, Bell has her sights set on earning place in the squad for February’s T20 World Cup in South Africa.”That’s a big focus for us,” Bell said. “I think the next four T20s are a good chance to really put a stamp to the rest of the world about where we are with our cricket and how good a T20 squad we can be.”It will also be a good chance to play some the girls who have maybe not played so much T20 cricket and see what our different options are against different players.”Bell got her chance in T20Is when veteran seamer Katherine Brunt was rested for India’s tour of England in September – she played two of their three matches for no return. Having shared new-ball duties with the experienced Kate Cross during the ODIs in Antigua, Bell finally had the chance to open the bowling with Brunt in the first T20I.”That’s actually the first time I’ve played with Katherine in my career so that was pretty special,” Bell said. “Not many people can say they’ve done that so that was really good.”Having her around, having Crossy around in the ODIs, I think I can just learn so much. They’re really open just helping me with anything. It was a good experience.”Being on the big stage is not alien to Bell, which is another notable thing in favour of England’s youngsters. She was the second-highest wicket-taker in this year’s Women’s Hundred behind Southern Brave team-mate and Australia legspinner Amanda-Jade Wellington and sixth on the list in 2021, the inaugural season of the competition, which has been credited with giving young players valuable experience against top-level opponents in front of big crowds.With Kemp and Capsey returning home from the Caribbean early due to back and collarbone injuries respectively, it is down to Bell and Wong – who was not part of the ODI squad and is yet to feature in the T20I series – to fly the flag for England’s newest crop. If they can play with what is becoming a collective trademark of freedom, it should be a breeze.

“If I think of competing with others, it puts pressure on me,” he said

Mohammad Isam23-Jul-2021Bangladesh allrounder Soumya Sarkar said he has to better prepare himself mentally in order to become a more consistent batter. He was adjudged Player of the Match for his half-century along with bowling figures of 1 for 18 in two overs against Zimbabwe in the first T20I in Harare, where the visitors won by eight wickets.Sarkar made 50 off 45 balls with four fours and two towering sixes. He said that he made a nervous start when he was nearly run-out in the first over, but a six off Luke Jongwe in the fifth over relaxed him.”I was playing my first international match after four months so I felt a bit shaky at the start,” Sarkar said. “When some of my first shots were going to hand, I told myself to take a bit of time. A four or a six would open things up for me, I thought. When I got a preferred ball and struck the six, I got my confidence back.”This was only Sarkar’s second fifty this year. He was given a chance in one Test against West Indies and the ODI series against New Zealand, without much success. Sarkar’s inconsistency resulted in him being constantly shuffled in and out of the team as well as up and down the batting order.”When I was out of the team, I practiced with purpose, particularly during the DPL T20s. I will continue to focus on certain areas of my game. I have to be more mentally fit to be more consistent.”My biggest competition is with myself. If I think of competing with others, it puts pressure on me. I want to do well myself, and get back my place in the team,” Sarkar said.Sarkar was later dismissed in a needless manner. After completing the run to reach his fifty, he ran himself out when a back-handed flick by Regis Chakabva caught him short of the crease trying a second run off the same delivery.”I felt that we could have finished the game two overs earlier if I wasn’t run out in that manner,” he said. “It was disappointing to get out. I thought that I was playing their left-arm spinner well, so I would have charged him further if I was around.”Sarkar said that Mohammad Naim’s three fours in the fourth over gave them the momentum required to chase down 153, which Bangladesh achieved with more than one over remaining.”I was supposed to bat at No 3, but the coach told me at the innings break that I would be opening in Liton’s place. I had to prepare myself mentally, and speak to the new partner and bat according to the conditions.”When we were going slow at the start, I told Naim that one big over will bring the flow in our favour. When he struck those three fours in the fourth over, things changed quickly,” he said.

The player has challenged the length of the sanction, maintaining that it was unprecedented

Umar Farooq19-May-2020Umar Akmal has filed an official appeal against the three-year ban imposed on him by the PCB, challenging the length of the sanction and hoping to get it reduced. Akmal was expelled from all representative cricket after he he failed to report details of corrupt approaches made to him ahead of this year’s PSL.The PCB confirmed the receipt of Akmal’s appeal and will form a panel of independent adjudicators to hear the case. According to the PCB’s code, the panel will not conduct a (fresh) hearing, but instead limit itself to “a consideration of whether the decision being appealed was erroneous.”Akmal was charged by the PCB on two counts of breaching its anti-corruption code, and while each charge carries a three-year ban, they are being run concurrently.It is understood that Akmal maintained in his appeal that the three-year ban was unprecedented, and that other players committing similar offences had been let off with lesser punishments – Mohammad Irfan was banned for six months (reduced from one year for cooperating with the PCB’s investigation in 2017, while Mohammad Nawaz picked up a two-month ban soon afterwards. In a recent example from outside Pakistan, Shakib Al Hasan – among the senior-most players in Bangladesh cricket – was banned for two years with one year of that sentence suspended.In the Akmal case, the judge observed that the player had failed to give any plausible explanation for not reporting the matter to the PCB’s vigilance and anti-corruption departments and was in breach of article 2.4.4, and he would be deemed to be engaged in corrupt conduct under the anti-corruption code of the PCB. It was also recorded that Akmal didn’t show any remorse and hadn’t cooperated with investigating authorities.In other previous cases, players got lesser punishments as a result of admitting to their mistakes and agreeing to the imposed sanctions.

The duo combined to pick up 7 for 37 before Liam Livingstone took Karachi Kings to victory in the final over, courtesy the only six of the match

The Report by Danyal Rasool04-Mar-2019

Usman Shinwari celebrates a wicket•PSL

How the game played outIn what has been a fairly evenly contested PSL tournament, there was one team that stood out, if that is the best way to put it: Multan Sultans. They stood out as being not quite at the same level as the others, and on a day they needed a big performance to stay alive, they put in one that merely drove the point further home. Becoming just the second team in PSL history to fail to hit a six across a completed innings, they limped to 118 for 7, never able to get the innings on track for anything close to a par score.That one fast bowler and one spinner from Karachi Kings registered their best bowling figures of the season didn’t help Sultans’ cause either. Usman Shinwari and Umer Khan’s combined figures read 8-0-37-7.As is the case with several low-scoring games, this one became a bit of a nervy scrap towards the end, particularly after Mohammad Abbas bowled a spotless double-wicket maiden to dislodge Colin Ingram and Iftikhar Ahmed. Until then, the chase had been a stroll, Liam Livingstone and Ingram’s 46-run partnership for the third wicket getting Kings close. But with new life breathed into Sultans, Shoaib Malik’s men conjured up the discipline they had lacked in the field for much of the tournament and made Kings’ life as difficult as possible. Kings themselves didn’t help their cause, almost forgetting about strike rotation in a frenzy to get the job done.Sultans won that passage of play, even taking the match to the final over, but the lacklustre display up to that point had done too much damage to afford them a final stay of execution in the tournament. Livingstone brought up his fifty, and the Kings victory, with a six over deep midwicket with four balls to go, ensuring the one game Sultans play in Pakistan will have little tournament relevance for them.Turning pointWith Sultans 75 for 3 and Malik accompanying Hammad Azam in the 14th over, they had some semblance of a platform to make up for the lost time. But Umer ensured there would be no such launchpad for the batsmen, removing Malik and Dan Christian in the same over.Star of the dayShinwari wasn’t going to play the match until Mohammad Amir was forced out after his mother was taken ill. But such is the depth Pakistan enjoy in the fast-bowling department that Shinwari put in a display that made one wonder why he wasn’t the first name on the team sheet. Cranking up the pace, bowling almost every ball close to 145kph, he wrecked the Sultans top order, knocking back the stumps of Umar Siddiq and Johnson Charles. He wasn’t done, though, and returned to take two more wickets with the final two balls of his spell at the death, this time spelling the end for Hammad Azam and Mohammad Irfan. His 4 for 15 meant he made a strong case for a place in the first-choice XI, no matter who is available for the remainder of the tournament.The big missThe PSL has had its share of low-scoring games, but this was a particularly odd one in one respect. Sultans’ innings was just the second in the history of the PSL without a single six over 20 overs. But amazingly enough, Kings – who had until now been the only team to suffer that fate – failed to clear the ropes right until the final delivery of the match when Livingstone lifted legspinner Mohammad Irfan over deep midwicket for the only six of the match. The crowd may have seen a thriller, but they came within a whisker of sitting through that rarest of T20s: the one without a six.Where the teams standSultans became the first team to be eliminated, having managed just two wins from nine games. Kings bolstered their chances of qualification for the playoffs, having split their eight matches right down the middle, placing them fourth above Lahore Qalandars and Sultans.

On a day when he paired with Tim Southee to ensure New Zealand’s domination, Trent Boult said better pitches would help solve the problem of making Test cricket appealing

ESPNcricinfo staff10-Dec-20170:37

‘Take a lot of pride in my batting’ – Boult

New Zealand fast bowler Trent Boult is of the opinion that the introduction of four-day Test cricket is not necessary to make the format more appealing. Instead, Boult asked for better pitches that would create a more even contest between bat and ball and make the games more attractive to watch.The inaugural four-day Test will be played between South Africa and Zimbabwe on Boxing Day, with the ICC approving its trial to run through until the 2019 World Cup. At the time of approving the trial, in October, ICC chief executive David Richardson had pointed out that four-day Tests would be helpful for lower-ranked Test nations and the new teams, Ireland and Afghanistan. Cricket Australia chairman David Peever had said the trial was “very sensible” with fans eager to see results in the format.Getty Images

“I love Test cricket, so I’d love to see it stay as it always has,” Boult was quoted as saying by . “In terms of shortening it to let it become more aggressive, I don’t think there’s any need. There’s other formats for that sort of thing. You want to have an even competition or contest between bat and ball. There’s some good wickets going around at the moment and the balls aren’t moving, so that’s what I’d love to see [a contest] – I wouldn’t want it any shorter to encourage aggression.”Boult was speaking after a day of “good fun” against West Indies in Hamilton. Boult and his new-ball partner Tim Southee, added 61 crucial runs for the last wicket, and then combined to take four wickets between them, with each also executing a spectacular catch. Boult’s stunner came when he dived to his left to hold on to a return catch offered by Shimron Hetmyer. By stumps, West Indies were still trailing by 158 runs with only two wickets in hand, having already conceded a 0-1 lead in the two-Test series.When asked if West Indies had not shown enough application with the bat, as they slumped to 215 for 8, Boult said it had not been easy to take wickets.”I can’t talk on behalf of their batsmen but I can tell you for free that they are probably not very happy with being eight down. That’s Test cricket – you can put pressure on the best players in the world and they can fail. From our point of view, we are just trying to be as accurate as we can, build enough pressure.”Boult’s 61-run partnership with Southee came at a brisk clip, with the pair scoring close to 7.5 an over. Boult was particularly aggressive, hitting five fours and two sixes in his 37 not out off 27 balls.”Believe it or not, I take a lot of pride in my batting. Any contribution, not just from myself but the lower order, is very pivotal,” Boult said. “In terms of the game the first innings is the one where we want to go big and get as many on the board as we can. A combination of runs as well as keeping their bowlers and fielders out there. As a bowler you know when the tail comes out and gets a few away, hits a few boundaries, it can become very frustrating.”

he ECB’s proposal for a new city-based T20 competition, which had originally be slated for a launch season in 2018, may now be postponed until 2020

ESPNcricinfo staff18-Oct-2016The ECB’s proposal for a new city-based T20 competition, which had originally been slated for a launch season in 2018, may now be postponed until 2020 to coincide with a new broadcasting deal.The go-ahead to further explore the eight-team proposal was given by a 16-3 vote at the ECB board meeting at Lord’s in September, following discussions between the 18 first-class counties, the Professional Cricketers’ Association, and MCC.The ECB hierarchy, led by chairman Colin Graves and chief executive Tom Harrison, have been keen to push through a new T20 league to rival the success generated by the Indian Premier League and Australia’s Big Bash, despite fears from many counties that it would undermine their raison d’etre.

Championship by night

A round of Championship matches will be played under floodlights in 2017 – possibly in late June, the brightest time of the year.
The matches will be played using pink Dukes balls, so keeping faith with the make of ball used in the county game. Dukes have yet to be tested under lights with all previous experiments using a Kookaburra.

Surrey, Kent and Sussex were reportedly the three counties who opposed the proposal, although several have since expressed reservations about the lack of detail.The original plan had been for the competition to be shown on Sky Sports for at least the first two seasons, with few England players likely to be involved due to an overlap with international commitments. However, the delayed start may now encourage a terrestrial broadcaster to come forward, in line with the ECB’s desire to use the competition as a vehicle to attract new audiences to the game.In a separate development, the ECB board today ratified a recommendation from the Cricket Committee that the option of allowing the visiting team to bowl first in County Championship fixtures should be retained for the 2017 season.The proposal caused some controversy when it was brought in for the start of the 2016 season. However, the stated aim of encouraging home counties to produce better four-day pitches – and improving the conditions for spin bowlers – were broadly considered to have been a success.The Cricket Committee – which included Yorkshire’s director of cricket Martyn Moxon, Leicestershire’s chief executive Wasim Khan and David Leatherdale, the chief executive of the PCA – studied a range of data that showed, among other factors, that a total of 10,094 overs of spin had been bowled across the season, compared to 8,643 in 2015 – the highest since 2011.Peter Wright, the chairman of the Cricket Committee, told ECB.co.uk: “In many ways the statistics merely reinforced the feeling we had been picking up around the game throughout the summer, that the experiment was working in beginning to rebalance the game.”As we stressed when we introduced the new options for visiting captains, this was not all about spin. We wanted matches to last longer, and to become more thorough preparation for international cricket.”That meant better, four-day pitches, which would mean bowlers had to work harder to take wickets, and would encourage a greater variety of bowling, whether spin in its various forms, genuine pace or reverse swing from more abrasive pitches.

A round-up of all the Haier Mobile T-20 Cup matches played on September 13, 2015

ESPNcricinfo staff13-Sep-2015

Group B

Imran Khan and Israrullah both shared the Man-of-the-Match award•PCB

A hat-trick from the left-arm seamer Imran Khan, followed by a 52-ball 82 from Israrullah powered Peshawar Region into the semi-finals, after the team beat Karachi Region Blues by seven wickets at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. Despite the defeat, Karachi Blues also made it to the next round, starting tomorrow.Batting first, Karachi Blues were never allowed to thrive in their innings, as the opener Khurram Manzoor was dismissed in the third over. Khalid Latif, the tournament’s second leading scorer, hit 40 off 34 balls to lay a platform, but none of the other batsmen could capitalise, as Imran clipped three important wickets – Fawad Alam (37 off 28), Sarfaraz Ahmed (23 off 18) and Anwar Ali (0) – to complete his hat-trick. Those late blows restricted Karachi Blues to 156 for 7.Rafatullah Mohmand departed early in the chase, but Israrullah and Mohammad Rizwan (40 off 35) made no mistakes. Israrullah launched 13 fours during his fifty, as Peshawar overhauled the target in 18 overs. Anwar Ali bagged one wicket while Rumman Raees, the leading wicket-taker of the tournament, could also only manage 1 for 35. With their fourth win of the tournament, Peshawar ended on top of Group B.A five-for from the fast bowler Mohammad Naeem set up a six-wicket win for Abbottabad Region against Islamabad Region at the Diamond Club Ground. The win, though, was in vain, as the Younis Khan-led side failed to qualify for the semi-finals after finishing third in the table, with three victories and two losses.Islamabad, having been inserted, began promisingly, as the opener Shan Masood scored 36 off 21 balls. However, Naeem ripped the batting order, picking up 5 for 31 from his four overs. Shahid Yousuf resisted with 34, but Islamabad were eventually bundled out for 149 in 19 overs.Abbottabad did not have much trouble in their chase, as Fakhar Zaman, who scored a century against Peshawar on Saturday, hammered 78 off 39 balls with 14 fours and a six. Abbottabad lost four wickets in the chase, but Younis made 31 off 18 balls, taking the side home with 29 balls to spare.A three-wicket haul from Mohammad Irfan set up a comprehensive six-wicket win for Lahore Region Whites against Faisalabad Region at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The result, however, did not help either team; Lahore Whites could only finish fourth in the table, while Faisalabad were relegated after ending rock bottom.Faisalabad, opting to bat, were steered by an unbeaten 55-ball 87 from their opener Raheel Ameer. However, Ameer received little by way of support from his team-mates, as no other batsman could muster more than 17. Irfan picked up 3 for 9 to run through Faisalabad’s lower middle order, while Sajid Watto collected 2 for 26, restricting the team to 140 for 7.Lahore Whites lost Ahmed Shehzad early in the chase, but crucial thirties from their captain Azhar Ali (35), Umar Siddiq (34) and Saad Nasim (37 not out) took the team home in 18.4 overs. Ehsan Adil was Faisalabad’s best bowler, taking 2 for 16 from three overs.

Group A

Sialkot Region overpowered Bahawalpur Region by 10 wickets at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad to go straight into the semi-final.In what turned out to be a one-sided contest, Bahawalpur, batting first, could only muster 96 for 7 from their 20 overs. Only Bahawalpur’s captain Kamran Hussain produced a substantial score, making 43 off 33 balls, while six of the batsmen failed to break into double digits. Hasan Ali was the main destroyer, picking up four wickets at the cost of 11 runs, while Usama Mir bowled a tight four overs to bag two wickets, giving away just seven runs.Sialkot responded to the small chase in style, as both the openers Mukhtar Ahmed (55 off 25) and Nauman Anwar (45 off 23) guided the team home inside eight overs. Sialkot will now take on Peshawar Region in Monday’s second semi-final.Hyderabad Region held their nerve to beat Rawalpindi Region by two wickets off the penultimate ball in an inconsequential match. Hyderabad needed five off the last two deliveries from Hammad Azam when Nauman Ali hit the third ball he faced for six to seal the win.Hyderabad began their chase of 159 strongly with a 37-run opening stand between Azeem Ghumman (41 off 36) and Sharjeel Khan. However, they lost momentum thereafter and slipped to 85 for 4 during the 13th over. Faisal Athar (31 off 24) and Shoaib Laghari (34 off 19) revived the chase with a fifty partnership.Yasir Arafat struck twice in the 18th over on way to 3 for 20 and Sohail Tanvir removed Laghari in the 19th but Hyderabad had enough left in the tank to reach their destination.Rawalpindi had posted 158 for 8 after choosing to bat. Umar Amin led with 52 off 40 and rebuilt the innings from 98 for 5 along with Zahid Mansoor, who contributed 31 off 20. Nauman Ali starred with the ball too, taking 3 for 31.