February 11, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 22, 1428

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LAHORE, Feb 10: Rains in the Punjab played havoc with Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Gold League Cricket Championship with both matches being declared as draws.

Sialkot were desperately unlucky when their fixture against Karachi Urban at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot saw no play on the final day. They were 37 runs from gaining nine points which would have seen them head the standings with 30 points.

As it turned out, Sialkot, the defending champions, remain in second place despite having the same of points – 24 – as leaders Karachi Urban.

Rawalpindi, meanwhile, ended their Gold League campaign when last day’s play of the match against Lahore Shalimar at the LCCA Ground in Lahore was also washed out.

The result meant that Lahore Shalimar are still in with a chance of playing in the Gold League competition next season, provided they beat Peshawar in the last round and hope that Karachi Harbour are defeated by Sialkot.

In the meantime, match referee Abdul Sami imposed a fine of Rs5,000 on Rawalpindi’s batsman Naveed Qureshi for dissent after being dismissed in the first innings.

Final scores:

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: Match drawn.

KARACHI URBAN 164 (Kashif Dawood 5-54) and 230 (Asif Zakir 62; Tahir Mughal 6-74); SIALKOT 330 (Ayub Dogar 127m Hafiz Khalid 77; Rajesh Ramesh 6-145, Asif Zakir 4-40) and 27-1.

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: Match drawn.

RAWALPINDI 330 (Mohammad Wasim 75, Babar Naeem 63) and 71-3; LAHORE SHALIMAR 343 (Salman Butt 166; Yasir Arafat 6-84).