April 05, 2008	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 27, 1429

LAHORE, April 4: Another splendid batting display by Test wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal steered the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to the National One-day Cricket Cup semi-finals after a 58-run win over Wapda in the last Super Eight match at the LCCA Ground on Friday.

Kamran (80) hit his third half-century of the event as the NBP, batting first, set a testing total of 241 for Wapda to win in 39 overs.

The quota of overs was reduced from 50 to 39, due to late start after the rain on Wednesday night.

In reply, Wapda, who remained pointless in the Super Eight round after losing all three matches of Pool ‘A’, slumped to 182 all out in 38.4 overs with Tariq Aziz (57) and captain Bilal Khilji (50) being the only noteworthy scorers. Their key but out-of-form batsman Mohammad Yousuf preferred rest.

Wapda, after a terrible start (46-3), were steadied by Tariq and Bilal, who added 75 runs for the fourth wicket. But once Tariq was clean bowled by Fawad Alam, and Bilal was run out by Naumanullah, Wapda couldn’t resist much, adding 61 more before being dismissed for 182.

Earlier, sent in to bat first, the NBP innings revolved around Kamran and Fawad Alam (41), guiding their team to a formidable 240 for 7 in 39 overs.

Kamran, who had also scored two centuries in the event, hit nine fours in his 85-ball knock. His aggregate in the tournament has now reached 516 runs in seven matches.

After losing the openers Salman Butt and (8) and Nasir Jamshed (23) at the total of 56, Kamran led the NBP innings to safety with useful cameos from Fawad, his captain Naumanullah (24) and Mansoor Amjad (25).

Scoreboard

NATIONAL BANK:

Salman Butt c Zulqarnain b Sarfraz 8

Nasir Jamshed b Bilal 23

Kamran Akmal c Sarfraz b Aamir 80

Naumanullah b Bilal 24

Shahid Yousuf c Tariq b Sabir 8

Fawad Alam c Aamir b Sarfraz 41

Mansoor Amjad not out 25

Qaiser Abbas run out 1

Tahir Mughal not out 15

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-5, W-5, NB-4) 15

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 39 overs) 240

FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-56, 3-105, 4-130, 5-168, 6-208, 7-210.

DID NOT BAT: Wahab Riaz, Irfanuddin.

BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 8-0-31-2 (1nb); Azharullah 8-0-59-0 (1w); Bilal Khilji 7-0-34-1 (2w); Nawaz Sardar 6-0-43-1 (3nb); Sabir Hussain 4-0-28-1 (1w); Aamir Sajjad 4-0-24-1 (1w); Jahangir Mirza 2-0-15-0.

WAPDA:

Atiq-ur-Rehman c Irfan b Tahir 6

Kashif Rasheed c Kamran b Wahab 9

Tariq Aziz b Fawad 57

Aamir Sajjad c Kamran b Tahir 8

Bilal Khilji run out 50

Jahangir Mirza c Kamran b Irfan 10

Sabir Hussain run out 0

Nawaz Sardar c Shahid b Irfan 11

Sarfraz Ahmed c Wahab b Qaiser 0

Zulqarnain Haider c Shahid b Mansoor 16

Azharullah not out 6

EXTRAS (LB-4, W-4, NB-1) 9

TOTAL (all out, 38.4 overs) 182

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9, 2-9, 3-46, 4-121, 5-142, 6-143, 7-160, 8-160, 9-160.

BOWLING: Wahab Riaz 6-1-26-1 (1nb, 4w); Tahir Mughal 8-0-35-2; Irfanuddin 8-0-42-2; Mansoor Amjad 6.4-0-43-1; Fawad Alam 5-0-23-1; Qaiser Abbas 5-0-9-1.

Result: National Bank won by 58 runs.

UMPIRES: Kaukab Butt and Ahsan Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Khalid Niazi.

MEN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kamran Akmal and Bilal Khilji.