Islamabad crush Quetta in Cornelius Trophy final

Islamabad defeated Quetta by an innings and 105 runs with a day to spare in the four-day final of the Cornelius Trophy at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday. The finalists will now replace Dadu and Lahore Blues in the 2003-2004 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy that will also see Service Industries being replaced by Sui Gas.

Islamabad, put into bat, posted 355 in their only innings with Asif Mahmood top scoring with 86 that came off 124 deliveries. Opener Bilal Asad was the other chief run-getter with a 89-ball 71. Other valuable contributions came from Shakeel Ahmed (46 not out, Yasir Arafat (37), Irfan Bhatti (37) and Stephen John (21).

For Quetta, paceman Faisal Irfan picked up four wickets for 105 runs while his new ball partner Abdul Rehman scooped up three wickets for 73 runs.

Quetta, in their turn, were first shot out for 154 with Shakeel Ahmed and Yasir Arafat equally sharing six wickets between them conceding 28 and 45 runs respectively while in the second innings, they were dismissed for 96. Yasir continued his impressive performance by claiming five wickets for 18 runs.

Islamabad were awarded a cash reward of Rs 40,000 while Quetta settled with Rs 20,000. Yasir Arafat was adjudged the Man-of-the-Final whereas Karachi Greens' Rashid Ali (465 runs) was declared the best batsman, Stephen John of Islamabd (36 wickets) was declared the best bowler, Zafar Ali of Larkana (20 dismissals) was declared the best wicket-keeper, and Sheraz Soomro (Larkana) and Nasir Aziz (Karachi Greens) were declared joint-best fielders with 10 catches each.

Meanwhile, match referee Abdul Sami Khan imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 and a one-match ban on Islamabad's Raheel Majeed. Raheel was found guilty of using abusive language against the umpires. Quetta's Aqeel Baloch was also reprimanded and fined Rs 3,000 for breach of players code of conduct.

Samiul Hasan
General Manager - Media
Mobile + 92 300 8424 389
10 March 2003