Iram Javed's half century architects Dynamites' second loss

Syeda Aroob Shah’s three-fer and a well-compiled fifty by Iram Javed helped PCB Challengers beat PCB Dynamites by three wickets in the third match of National Triangular One-Day Women Cricket Championship 2019 at the Lahore Gymkhana Ground on Friday (September 20).

Although it was eventually a canter, Challengers ended up losing seven wickets in the process. Chasing 134 for a win, they didn’t get off to the best of starts, losing two wickets inside three overs. Opener Huraina Sajjad and Natalia Pervaiz then consolidated the innings before both fell in the space of five balls.

Soon after, Sidra Nawaz and Saba Nazir fell quickly to reduce the Challengers to six for 67. It was then that Javed and Diana Baig got together. The former, with three fours and a six, notched up a half century. But soon she fell after reaching the landmark. But they had added 66 run for the seventh wicket, to leave Challengers on the doorstep of victory.

Nida Dar had picked four wickets for 45 runs. But her efforts weren’t enough to prevent a second loss for Dynamites in three matches.

Earlier, Dynamites were put in to bat after they lost the toss. Their openers Ayesha Naz and Nahida Khan added 41 before the former fell. Naz had scored just nine runs but had taken 40 balls for that.

Javeria Khan didn’t give Nahida company for too long, falling for 10 off 12. Nahida, the top-scorer of the innings, then fell next with Dynamites’ score being 69. She had scored a 71-ball 36 with three fours. From there, it was the Challengers’ bowling show, as none of the Dynamites batters stayed in the middle for long. Kainat Imtiaz was the next best scorer with 18 to her name, which took 53 balls coming.

All the Challengers bowlers made merry as they were amongst the wicket, with Shah’s three for 34 being the best. Sadia Iqbal and Saba Nazir were economical as well picking up two wickets apiece and giving away just 13 (nine overs) and 21 (ten overs) runs respectively.

Brief Scores: PCB Dynamites 133/10 in 46 overs (Nahida Khan 36; Syeda Aroob Shah 3/24) lost to PCB Challengers 134/7 in 39.4 overs (Iram Javed 50; Nida Dar 4/45) by three wickets with 62 balls to spare. PoM: Iram Javed.