Easy win takes Multan to table top
A round-up of the third day of the first-round matches in the 2008-09 Royal Bank of Scotland Cup
Cricinfo staff
13-Mar-2009
Group A
With five of their top six batsmen chipping in with useful scores Multan Tigers needed just 42 overs to chase Hyderabad Hawks' 253 in Mirpur Khas. Babar Ali (36) and Shoaib Maqsood (48) gave Multan a 56-run opening stand after which debutant Fayyaz-ul-Hasan (52), Gulraiz Sadaf (49*) and Rizwan Haider (35) drove Multan to a five-wicket win that took them to the top of the Group A points table. Opener Aqeel Anjum scored 74 for Hyderabad but a middle-order collapse, where Hyderabad lost five wickets for 20 runs, nearly had them bowled out under 200 before Mohammad Urs' unbeaten 40-ball 58 took them to a competitive total. However it wasn't enough to stop Multan in their tracks.
Half-centuries by Hammad Ali and Riaz Kail took the Abbottabad Rhinos to a 130-run win over the Quetta Bears in Karachi. Hammad scored 81 in only his second List A match and added half-century partnerships with Mir Azam (44 off 29) and Ghulam Mohammad (44 off 52) before Kail slammed 71 off 56 balls as Abbottabad reached 294. Quetta lost their openers with only six on the board and without any half-century stands they fell far behind the run chase. Umair Khan picked up 3 for 29 in his seven overs while Armaghan Elahi and Khalid Usman took two each. Taimur Ali top scored with 35 as Quetta were bowled out inside 37 overs.
Khalid Latif's century and 142-run opening stand with Ali Asad set up the Karachi Dolphins' six-wicket win over the Rawalpindi Rams after debutant medium pacer Khalid Mahmood picked up 5 for 56 to restrict Rawalpindi to 268 at the National Stadium. Mahmood opened the bowling with Mohammad Sami and the two had reduced Rawalpindi to 4 for 24 before Usman Saeed (109) walked out to the middle and began a rescue effort along with Zahir Mansoor (74). The two added 156 together before Usman was bowled by Mahmood.
The third-round matches for groups' B,C and D were postponed because of the current political situation in Pakistan. The revised schedule for the groups will be released later.
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | N/R | Pts | Net RR | For | Against |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Multan Tigers | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | +1.467 | 513/78.5 | 504/100.0 |
| Rawalpindi Rams | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +3.560 | 307/50.0 | 129/50.0 |
| Rhinos | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.990 | 584/100.0 | 485/100.0 |
| Karachi Dolphins | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | +0.620 | 321/50.0 | 290/50.0 |
| Quetta Bears | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.161 | 415/100.0 | 548/86.5 |
| Hyderabad Hawks | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -2.332 | 382/100.0 | 566/92.0 |