Dolphins, Wolves mark RBS T20 opening with easy triumphs

LAHORE - The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) National Twenty20 Cup opened up here Saturday with wins for Karachi Dolphins, Faisalabad Wolves, Lahore Lions and Sialkot Stallions - Karachi Zebras

Surprisingly one of the Lahore teams, the Lions struggled to win by three runs and Eagles were confined to its comfort zone by the Dolphins. Whereas the fifth match of the day was in progress at the time of filing this report in that Peshawar Panthers were playing Islamabad Leopards.

Karachi Dolphins beat Lahore Eagles by 25 runs at Lahore Gymkhana's of Bagh-I-Jinnah.

Dolphins gathered 184 runs in 20 overs with half century coming from Fawad Alam. He contributed 55 with five boundaries and a six. While Nauman Ullah made 41 with the same number of boundaries Alam hit. Test star who is the most suited player of the format, Shahid Afridi came up with 23 runs hitting two fours and a six.

Looking at the bowling attack of the eagles, Muhammad Naveed with three wickets was the main striker while rest of the bowlers Asif Raza, Muhammad Saeed, Usman Malik, Salman Khan and Ahmed Butt shared one wicket each.

In reply, Eagles failed to reach the desired score and could manage 159 for nine in full quota of overs. The Eagles upper order failure proved fatal for Eagles as the unbeaten 53 from Asif Raza went waste while Ali Raza was another major contributor with 29 runs. Anwar Ali got three wickets, Sohail Khan and Shahid Afridi had two each while Tahir have one.

Fawad Alam also passed his previous highest score of 54 while Anwar Ali equalled his previous best of 11. Five players Asif Khan, Ahmed Butt, Ali Raza, Mohammad Saeed and Mohammad Naved made their Twenty20 debut.

Anwar Ali's with this three for eight figures achieved his best bowling analysis.

In the other match of the morning, Wolves got 20 runs win over Rhinos at the LCCA ground.

Wolves made 148 for six. Captain Muhammad Hafeez was the star of the low score match with 62 runs, he got with the help of four fours and a six. While Misbah-ul-Haq made 30 to swell the total worth fighting. Khalid Usman with three wickets was the main wicket taker while Junaid Khan got two.

In reply, Rhions were bundled out for 128 in 18.5 overs. Major scorers from Rhions were Riaz Kail 25, Usman 20 and yasir Shah 22. Muhammad Talha got three wickets, Samiullah Niazi two while Muhammad Hafeez and Imran Khalid shared one each.

Usman Arshad, Mohammad Talha, Ghulam Mohammad, Usman Khan, Khalid Usman, Rashid Mansoor and Armaghan Elahi made their Twenty20 debut in this match.

At the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore Lions moved past Quetta Bears by three runs, Sialkot Stallions take on Karachi Zebras and later at night Peshawar Panthers were playing with Islamabad Leopards.

Entry for families in Fazal Mahmood enclosure and rest from gate 4, 5, 10 & 11 has been free. While Imran Khan and Javed Miandad enclosure will only be reserved for RBS customers by invitation. The PCB has ensured un-irrupted power supply through PCB owned generators which will ensure that PCB does not consume the much needed public power supply.

SCOREBOARDS

DOLPHINS VS EAGLES

Karachi Dolphins    R    B    M    4s    6s    SR

Khurram Manzoor c Ali Raza b Naved    16    12    12    4    -    133.33

Khalid Latif c Ali b Raza    14    10    16    3    -    140.00

Naumanullah c Raza b Saeed    41    25    43    5    1    164.00

Fawad Alam c Adnan b Salman    55    42    55    5    1    130.95

Shahid Afridi b Naved    23    17    23    2    1    135.29

Tariq Haroon not out    7    8    14    -    -    87.50

Sarfraz Ahmed lbw b Naved    1    2    2    -    -    50.00

Anwar Ali c Ali b Malik    11    4    3    1    1    275.00

Did not bat: Tahir Khan, Sohail Khan, Malik Aftab.

EXTRAS (6 lb, 4 w, 6 pen)    16

TOTAL (7 wkts, 20 overs)    184