John bags seven wickets

Paceman Stephen John razed Lahore Greens with seven for 54 on Wednesday sending the visitors crashing to 132 all out as Islamabad gained the advantage in their Cornelius Trophy match at KRL Stadium.

Islamabad batsmen Ashar Zaidi and Hammad-ul-Haq then took centre stage helping their side to a healthy 246 for one, a lead of 114 by the close of the first day of this three-day game.

In a ruthless display, Ashar scored an unbeaten 112 off just 88 balls, his marvellous innings comprising 14 boundaries and two sixes.

Hammad, no less impressive, was closing in on his century and stood at 96 when play ended for the day. His knock was also laced with 14 hits to the ropes. But had it not been for John's excellent show with the ball, the complexion of the game may well have been quite different. He tore Lahore Greens batting apart, three of his victims going for nought.

The tourists were in such hopeless form that their top scorer, not surprisingly, was Mr Extras with 30.

Summarised scores:

*At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi:

LAHORE GREENS 132 (Imran Qadir 29; Stephen John 7-54; Muhammad Altaf 2-28);

ISLAMABAD 246-1 (Ashar Zaidi 112 not out, Hammad-ul-Haq 96 not out).

At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:

NAWABSHAH 142 (Nasir Khan 28, Shahid Hussain 21, Abid Ali 20; Ariz Kamal 3-28, Zeeshan Essa 3-28, Faraz Ahmed 2-14, Adeel Malik 2-29);

KARACHI GREENS 173-3 (Rashid Ali 73, Mir Rashid 60, Ariz Kamal 27 not out).*At PCB Regional Academy Ground, Karachi:

QUETTA 331-8 innings closed (Javed Iqbal 123, Naseem Khan 110, Abdul Rehman 25, Abdul Wali 20 not out; Mohtashim Ali 3-73, Shahbaz Bashir 2-49); SIBI 19-1