Quetta Gl adiators beat Peshawar Z almi by three runs in l ast-ball thriller

LAHORE

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Qu E T TA Gladiators beat Peshawar Zalmi by three runs in a thrilling finish in PSL exhibition match on Sunday in Quetta

Chasing a total of 185 Mohammad Haris silenced Quetta crowd by hitting Naseem Shah for multiple boundaries in the first over Babar Azam also opened his account by hitting Mohammad Hasnain for back to back boundaries in the second over of the innings, Haris continued his aggressive approach as hit Mohammad Nawaz for a six over long off

There was no stopping Mohammad Haris as he welcomed Naseem back with a hat-trick boundaries Babar hit Naseem over third for a six to take Zalmi to 60 in 5 overs Babar was caught behind for 23 on the bowling of Hasnain in last over of powerplay Shahid Afridi came in next and hit a boundary on his first delivery

Haris continued to accelerate as he took advantage of Aimal Khan s inexpe-

Green’s ‘surprise’ progress leaves mcdonald hopeful ahead of first test

SYDNEY

R e u t e R S rience and took 20 runs of his first over

The fast-paced partnership between Haris and Afridi ensured Zalmi raced to 109/1 in just 10 overs Nawaz came back in the attack to remove Afridi, who was stumped while trying to hit the left-arm spinner over his head Haris completed his fifty in just 29 balls, to keep Zalmi’s chase on track He was ably supported by Saim Ayub, who hit a big six against Nawaz over fine leg Quetta turned to Iftikhar and he continued his magic as he dismissed Haris for 53 Azam came in next and hit Hasnain over his head for a boundary But Hasnain had the last laugh as Azam was caught on next ball for 6 by Nawaz

Iftikhar weaved his magic again as Ayub was caught and bowled for 19 Danish Aziz didn’t hold back from the get go and hit umaid Asif for back to back boundaries

But Zalmi kept losing wickets at regular intervals and was left with needing nine runs in the final over by Naseem Naseem held his nerves and bowled immaculate lines to defend the total to win the match for Quetta

Earlier, Ahsan Ali, opening alongside Bangalzai, smashed Salman Irshad for a boundary in the first over Wahab Riaz removed Ahsan for five in the next over as he was caught on the boundary

Wahab Riaz struck in the same over as he also dismissed umar Akmal for a duck in the same over Local boy Abdul Wahid Bangalzai smashed first six of the match against Irshad in the third over Bangalzai continued to attack as he hit Wahab for a boundary towards the leg side

Sarfaraz was clean bowled by a Yorker from Aamir Jamal

E m p owe r m e n t key t o M e l b o u r n e

C i t y ’s s u c c e s s, s ay s

MELBOURNE R e u t e R S

Fast bowler naseem joins balochistan police as honorar y dsP

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Tearaway fast bowler Naseem Shah has been appointed as the goodwill ambassador of Balochistan police The police appointed the pacer as the honorary DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) of the force in a ceremony held at the office of the provincial police chief in Quetta Addressing the crowd gathered at the venue, Shah expressed his gratitude and said: “As a child I had been scared of policemen My parents would scare me by mentioning the police However, as I have grown up, I have come to realise the sacrifices they make to keep us safe ”

“They don’t just put their lives at risk for us, but I have a far more simple example of their service “Those appointed with us at the NCA [National Cricket Academy] stay awake at night to protect us I cannot even function if I do not get a good night s rest I have immense respect for the police and am deeply grateful for their assistance,” he added Shah is not the first bowler who has been bestowed with this honour In July of last year, Shaheen Shah Afridi was named the goodwill ambassador of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police

Australia coach Andrew McDonald remains hopeful Cameron Green can feature against India when the first test between the nations begins in Nagpur on Thursday after the all-rounder ’s finger injury made “significant” improvement Green damaged his right index finger during the Boxing Day test win over South Africa in Melbourne and was only given clearance to return to training by his doctor on Monday following surgery

The 23-year-old bowled with soft balls for 30 minutes in the nets at the Australian camp in Bangalore before doing an hour s batting practice McDonald said Green still had progress to make before he could be considered for the series opener

We ve got a fair bit to work through him before the first test match,” McDonald told reporters “We haven’t put a clear line through him or put him on the team-sheet yet “I wouldn’t say he was in discomfort when he was bowling One of the deliveries jarred the bottom of the bat and that can create discomfort for anyone There s a bit of awareness around that finger He’s made some significant steps forward in the last couple of days, probably to my surprise There s still an outside chance that, everything going well, he might be on the team sheet ” With Green unlikely to be able to bowl in the first test, captain Pat Cummins looks like being paired with Josh Hazlewood in the attack with Mitchell Starc yet to arrive in India as he also recovers from a finger injury

Melbourne City head coach Rado Vidosic wants his players to continue taking responsibility and enjoying themselves on the pitch after the A-League leaders handed Macarthur FC a 6-1 thrashing on Saturday The win, which saw Dutchman Richard van der Venne hit a hat trick was City s first in four games after three consecutive draws and moved Vidosic’s side eight points clear of Central Coast Mariners in the standings There are teams where there s no one in charge or no one takes charge and those teams are poor,” said Vidosic There are teams where coaches are in charge and the coach makes all the decisions and I think those teams are average

“But to be an elite team you need players to be able to make all the right decisions We’ve been working towards that

It won t work every week but if we really want to empower them we need to give them freedom and we need to accept sometimes there s going to be mistakes and sometimes we’re going to cop the goal

“But the more they have fun the more they’re going to produce the goods ”

City lead the current A-League standings despite having played one game fewer than their nearest rivals and look destined to cruise into the end-of-season finals

The club has been the dominant force in the division in recent years, winning the A-League Premiership for topping the regular season table in the last two seasons while also claiming the A-League Championship in 2021

Despite that record, Vidosic, who took over as head coach in November after his predecessor Patrick Kisnorbo left to work with

remington Pharma wins 3rd allama iqbal Polo tournament

LAHORE

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French side Troyes, is continuing to look for ways to enhance his team further

“We want to be better,” he said “We want to improve we want to lift our standards and keep lifting our standards

“It’s up to the players to not be complacent and take the next game as the most important game in their life If we can manage that then there is no ceiling, we can keep improving Right now we talk about being unstoppable and what can we do to be unstoppable How does that look? This was a good example of how that looks

Multan getting ready to host PSL 8 opening ceremony

M u lta n: The colourful opening ceremony for the 8th edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) will be held on February 13 at Multan Cricket Stadium and star players from across the world will participate in the mega event In this regard, the Multan Waste Management Company (MWMC) has been entrusted with decorating the stadium and maintaining cleanliness, said MWMC CEO Shakeel Ahmed Bhatti during his visit to the site on Saturday He stated that hosting the opening ceremony was a big honour for the city and added that exemplary arrangements would be made for the event Besides this, the whole city would be decorated and cleaned in time for the players arrival Multan Cricket Stadium will host five matches of the PSL and the MWMC has started taking steps to beautify the city and maintain cleanliness, Bhatti concluded S ta f f R e p o Rt

Remington Pharma won the title of the 3rd Allama Iqbal Polo Tournament sponsored by Lahore Smart City after beating Diamond Paints by 9½-7 in the final played here at the Jinnah Polo Fields on Sunday The chief guest on the occasion was Project Director Lahore Smart City Brig Muhammad Nadeem Aslam (R) who distributed prizes among the winners at the prize distribution ceremony Jinnah Polo Fields President Lt Col Shoaib Aftab (R), Secretary Maj Ali Taimur (R) and a large number of spectators were also present there to witness and enjoy the enthralling final on the occasion of Kashmir Day

The final match proved a very challenging and exciting one, and after a tough fight, Remington Pharma registered an impressive 9½-7 triumph over Diamond Paints Phenomenal Hamza Mawaz Khan emerged as hero of the final as he gave a brilliant performance and malleted eight excellent goals for Remington Pharma, which had also a half goal handicap advantage, while the remaining one was beautifully converted by Ahmed Bilal Riaz Nico Roberts though played outstanding polo and impressed the spectators with beautiful mallet and pony work and also fired in five fabulous goals while his teammates Bilal Hayat Noon and Mir Shoaib Ahmed slammed in one goal each yet their efforts proved futile and they lost the title clash by 7-9½ John Fisher and Amirreza Behboudi supervised the match as field umpires

Talking to media after clinching the title, Captain of Remington Pharma Hamza Mawaz Khan said: “The team Remington Pharma played very well in this season and it was because of hard work as well as team work due to which we have been recording title victories one after another We will work harder and try to lift more titles in the remaining events of this season

L a h o r e G y m k h a n a w i n s L a h o r e I n t e r c l u b G o l f To u r n a m e n t

LAHORE

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The annual Lahore Interclub Golf Tournament concluded on Sunday, with Lahore Gymkhana winning the coveted team championship

This is their fourth win since the tournament began eight years ago

The tournament is played annually with three participating clubs that include Lahore Gymkhana, Royal Palm and Defense Raya

Traditionally, the tournament is held in the last week of December, however, due to disagreements over player handicaps, and preplanned amateur events, the 2022 edition was postponed till now

Day one was hosted by Defense Raya and the playing format was alternate shot The day’s honors belonged to Gymkhana, with 23 points, Royal Palm at 20, and Raya at 17 Royal Palm Golf Club was the venue for day two, with the three clubs competing in a best ball match play format At the close of play, Royal Palm managed to close the lead to just a single point, with the scores standing at Gymkhana 48 Royal Palm 47 and Raya 25

However, Lahore Gymkhana was able to outplay both the clubs on the final day of singles matches on the back of fantastic performances by the host s second tier team that comprised of players with handicaps between 10 and 16 Stand out players included Dawar Lashari Shahnawaz Durrani and

Osman Khan who remained unbeaten throughout the three days

The final scoreline for the tournament saw Lahore Gymkhana winning by17 5 points, the highest margin in the tournament s history

The trophy was handed over to the Lahore Gymkhana team captain Taha Mehmood by last year s winning captain from Royal Palm, Abdullah Sharif Speaking at the prize ceremony, Mehmood said, “it was a fantastic team effort, we had a number of first timers playing for us who were guided by the more experienced players in the team, and the collective performance turned into the largest victory in the history of this tournament