LAHORE: JDW has drawn one and lost one in the two President’s Trophy Grade-II Gold matches. JDW drew with Eshaal Associates in the tournament opener from 12-14 May in Haripur, before losing to MIT Solutions by eight wickets in Abbottabad from 16-18 May.

JDW’s remaining two matches this month are against Ahmed Glass in Haripur from 20-22 May and Railways in Islamabad from 24-26 May. Their last two Group A matches will be against Kingsmen Academy and PHA Rawalpindi in June. Fourteen sides, equally divided into two groups, are taking part in the Grade-II Gold with sides featuring in the 18-21 June final qualifying for next season’s President’s Trophy first-class tournament. Bottom-placed sides from each group will be relegated to Grade-II Silver event.

In the 2024-25 season, JDW played in the semi-final of the President’s Trophy Grade-II against Sahir Associates, which progressed to the final based on first-innings lead after the weather-affected match was drawn in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan’s white-ball stars Sahibzada Farhan and Haris Rauf featured for JDW in the opening match in Haripur. Haris had figures of 10-3-21-0 and 3-0-19-1 as Eshaal Associates scored 341 and 168 for four, respectively. Sahibzada Farhan scored 74 (105b, 10×4, 1×6) and received good support from Sameer Minhas (53, 57b, 7×4) and Farhan Yousaf (31, 49b, 2×4, 1×6) as JWD replied with 277.

In the second match, JDW scored 179 with Nasir Nawaz scoring 50, Sameer Minhas 37 and Farhan Yousaf 36. MIT Solutions took a 63-run first innings lead when they replied with 242 with Majid Ali and Muhammad Hassan Hafeez taking three and two wickets, respectively for JDW. In their second innings, JDW scored 174 with Zain Ishaq and Nasir Nawaz scoring 45 and 43 runs, respectively. MIT Solutions achieved the 112-run target for the loss of two wickets with openers Mohammad Farooq (62) and Hasnain Nadeem (34) putting on 97 runs for the first wicket.

Haris and Sahibzada missed the second match but are expected to return for the upcoming matches.

President’s Trophy Grade-II Gold (Scores in brief):

1st round (12-14 May) –Eshaal Associates (341-6 & 168-4) drew with JDW (277), Railways Cricket Stadium, Haripur
2nd round (16-18 May) – JDW (179 & 174) lost to MIT Solutions (242 & 114-2) by eight wickets, Abbottabad Cricket Stadium Abbottabad
3rd round (20-22 May) – JDW v Ahmed Glass, Railways Cricket Stadium, Haripur
4th round (24-26 May) – JDW v Railways, National Cricket Ground, Islamabad
5th round (5-7 June) – JDW v Kingsmen Academy, Abbottabad Cricket Stadium
6th round (9-11 June) – JDW v PHA Rawalpindi, Railways Cricket Stadium, Haripur
Semi-finals (14-16 June) – Venues TBC
Final (18-21 June) – Venue TBC