02 January 2005	Sunday	20 Ziqa'ad 1425

LAHORE, Jan 1: Peshawar emerged as new champions dethroning Faisalabad on the basis of their first innings lead as their Quaid-i-Azam Trophy final ended in a draw due to rain at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Saturday.

Peshawar, who had taken a 53-run lead in the first innings, started their second when play was only possible at tea time, after the fourth day's play was completely washed out on Friday.

Faisalabad declared the second innings at 217-9 where they left the crease on Thursday. In 28 overs' play on Saturday, Peshawer while chasing a winning target of 165 had collected 83 runs without any loss.

The winning team captain Wajahat Ullah Wasti received a cash prize of Rs 500,000 from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar M Khan.

Misbah-ul-Haq, the skipper of Faisalabad received the runners-up cash prize of Rs 250,000.

Peshawar's Shoaib Khan,who hit a splendid century (108) in first innings and played a key role with Akhtar Sarfraz (95) in earning the vital first innings lead, was adjudged Man-of-the-Final and received a cash prize of Rs 50,000.

Faisal Athar of Hyderabad was adjudged best batsman of the tournament, being top-scorer with 942 runs from 10 matches at average 55.41, having four centuries and three half-centuries and the highest score of 128.

International medium-pacer Shahid Nazir of Faisalabad was declared the best bowler taking 52 wickets from 10 matches, included the final at an impressive average 12.46, also having the best figure of six for 18.

He was tied with another fast bowler Abdul Rauf (Multan) with 47 wickets each before the final. Rauf has been performing notably in the domestic cricket but he still failed to catch the eyes of the selectors.

Both Test rejected, Ijaz Ahmad Junior (Faisalabad) and Wajahat Ullah Wasti (Peshawar) were declared the best fielders of the tournament jointly, by taking 17 catches each.

Hafiz Khalid Mehmood (Sialkot) earned the best wicket keeper's award by taking 31 catches behind the stumps. All players will get Rs 50,000 each while Ijaz and Wajahat will share the amount equally.

Scoreboard

FAISALABAD (1st innings) 226 for all (Misbah-ul-Haq 75; Riaz Afridi 4-57).

PESHAWAR (1st innings) 279 for nine, 76 overs (Shoaib Khan 108, Akhtar Sarfraz 95; Shahid Nazir 5-67).

FAISALABAD (2nd innings) 217 for nine decld, 69 overs (Ahmad Hayat 66; Waqar Ahmad 4-109). 3 /

PESHAWAR (2nd innings):

Rafat Ullah not out 44

Wajahat Ullah Wasti not out 38

EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for no loss, 28 overs) 83

BOWLING: Shahid Nazir 5-1-10-0; Sami Niazi 7-1-26-0; Muhammad Hafeez 7-0-29-0; Ahmed Hayat 3-1-8-0; Imran Khalid 2-0-9-0.