India, England win ties in Blind World Cup

ISLAMABAD—India defeated New Zealand by 276 runs in the first match of the 3rd World Cricket Cup for the Blind here at F-9 Park on Wednesday.
Matches of the tournament finally got underway on Wednesday after the first two days’ fixtures were washed out.
Batting first, India scored 329 off 18 overs for four wickets while the Kiwis were restricted to 53 for two wickets. Rajinder Varma, 150, and Shekhar Nike, 103, were the top scorers of the winning side. Varma was declared man of the match.
The chief guest of the match Lt. Gen (retd) Kamal Akber gave away the prizes to the players.
In the second match of the day played at PAF ground, England outplayed Australia by five wickets.
Australia batted first and scored 164 off 17 overs for five wickets, setting a target of 165 runs for victory which England successfully achieved in the last over.
Christenson and Hyder of Australia bagged 45 runs each while the English atsman Tim Gettridge scored 54 and declared man of the match.
`The Country Manager of the Muslim Hands International, Ziauddin Noor distributed the prizes among the players.
The soaking ground deterred West Indies and Sri Lanka to play the third scheduled match and both teams were given 2 points each.
Pakistan would play its first match of the tournament against Australia on Thursday. The other two matches include Sri Lanka Vs England and West Indies Vs New Zealand.—Agencies