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| December 7, 2005 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 4, 1426 |
Sialkot rout Faisalabad to land maiden Quaid Trophy
LAHORE, Dec 6: Sialkot took only two and a half day to emerge as new champions of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy after inflicting a crushing innings and 44-run defeat over Faisalabad in the Gold League final at Qadhafi Stadium on Tuesday. Sialkot, who had previous never won the prestigious championship, were deserving winners as they outclassed Faisalabad throughout the match.
They needed eight wickets when the play resumed with Faisalabad reeling at 35 for two at start of the third morning of this five-day final.
Left-arm pacemen Sarfraz Ahmed and Zahid Saeed, who shared all 10 wickets in Faisalabad’s first-innings score of 111, were again their tormentors as the 2003-04 champions were bowled out for 188 in the second innings after 75 minutes after lunch.
Sarfraz, who captured six for 28 in the first innings, captured four for 77 to finish with magnificent match figures of 10 for 105.
Zahid Saeed was equally devastating as he ended up with a match haul of eight for 98 after repeating his first-innings figures of four for 49 in the second innings as well.
Sarfraz was declared joint Man-of-the-Match with team-mate Shahid Yousuf, who scored 117 in the first innings. They shared the cash prize of Rs40,000.
Faisalabad started the day badly as they lost Asif Hussain (4) and skipper Misbahul Haq (1) to Sarfraz and Tahir Mughal, respectively. However, Test rejects Mohammad Hafeez and Naved Latif then added 67 for the fifth before the latter was out for 31.
Sialkot’s bowlers had done the half job by lunch as Faisalabad reached 123 for five with Hafeez batting on 59 and ex-Test batsman Ijaz Ahmed Junior on six.
After the break, Faisalabad lost two wickets off successive deliveries when Hafeez spectacularly caught by a diving Qaiser Abbas without adding to his score. Imran Khalid was out to very next delivery to leave Zahid on a hat trick for the second time in the match.
But Ahmed Hayat denied Zahid the chance to take his third wicket in a row. The left-armer, who was also on a hat trick in the first innings when sent back Ahmed Hayat and Mohammad Salman on successive deliveries but Shahid Nazir safely negotiated the next ball.
Hafeez batted gallantly and adorned his 120-ball knock with 10 boundaries.
Ijaz (43 not out, eight fours, one six) offered some sort of resistance but his efforts only delayed the inevitable.
Faisalabad, who qualified for the final for the third season on the trot, were eventually all out when Zahid clean bowled Samiullah Niazi for a duck.
The winners received a glittering cup and cash prize of Rs600,000. Faisalabad pocketed Rs300,000.
Individual awards worth Rs40,000 each were given away to Multan’s Saeed Anwar Jr (best batsman with 574 runs), Samiullah Niazi was adjudged as best bowler for taking 40 wickets. Mohammad Salman of Faisalabad, who kept 31 catches behind the stumps was declared best wicketkeeper.
Peshawar skipper Wajahatullah Wasti was declared best fielder for taking 12 catches.
The Quaid Trophy victory was a sweet revenge for Sialkot after their involvement in controversy with Faisalabad in the inaugural Twenty20 Cup at the same ground last season.
Sialkot in an attempt to deprive Faisalabad of making the finals, deliberately threw their match against Karachi Zebra as a protest against bias umpiring in their game with Faisalabad.
Later Sialkot skipper and Test all-rounder Shoaib Malik was banned for one Test by the PCB for his role while his team was scratched from the tournament.
SCOREBOARD
FAISALABAD (1st Innings) 111 (Sarfraz Ahmed 6-28, Zahid Saeed 4-40).
SIALKOT (1st Innings) 343 (Shahid Yousuf 117, Shahzad Malik 80; Samiullah Niazi 6-112).
FAISALABAD (2nd Innings, overnight 35-2):
Mohammad Hafeez c Qaiser b Zahid 59
Imran Ali c Khalid b Sarfraz 10
Mohammad Salman c Khalid b Sarfraz 3
Asif Hussain lbw b Sarfraz 4
Misbahul Haq lbw b Tahir 1
Naved Latif c Shahid b Zahid 31
Ijaz Ahmed Jr not out 43
Imran Khalid b Zahid 0
Ahmed Hayat c Khalid b Sarfraz 8
Shahid Nazir run out 17
Samiullah Niazi b Zahid 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-9, NB-2) 12
TOTAL (all out, 57 overs) 188
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-35, 3-39, 4-46, 5-113, 6-128, 7-128, 8-145, 9-175.
BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 24-8-77-4 (2nb); Tahir Mughal 16-4-40-1; Zahid Saeed 16-3-49-4; Faisal Naved 1-0-12-0.
RESULT: Sialkot won by an innings and 44 runs.
UMPIRES: Salim Badar and Asad Rauf.
MATCH REFEREE: Azhar Khan.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sarfraz Ahmed and Shahid Yousuf (joint).
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