KARACHI: Bahawalpur Stags sealed their Silver League quarter-final spot in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship when they upstaged their Group-II rivals Faisalabad Wolves by six wickets on the penultimate day of the four-day clash in Faisalabad on Thursday.

With both teams needing an outright win in the last round of league fixtures, the Stags made life tough for the Wolves who had the advantage of playing at their home venue of Iqbal Stadium.

Skipper Imranullah Aslam snared 4-55 with his slow left-armers as the Wolves were all out for 154 in their second innings which they had resumed at the overnight score of 98-4.

The end to the match was slightly dramatic as the Stags lost four wickets in pursuit for a meagre chase for 33 runs but finally got over the line at 35-4.

The Stags thus join Habib Bank and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and State Bank from this pool as the qualifiers for the knockout stage.

Also winning under three days were Sialkot Stallions who clinched an inconsequential six-wicket result in their favour over Abbottabad Falcons at the latter’s backyard in Abbottabad.

The remaining one team to reach the last-eight round from Group-I won’t be decided until Friday’s fourth and final day as both Hyderabad Hawks and Karachi Zebras are bidding to qualify.

But both sides have a fight on hands against Lahore Eagles and Quetta Bears, respectively. The Eagles earned a 96-run lead on the first innings by bowling the Hawks for 238 at the LCCA Ground in Lahore before extending it further to 245 by reaching stumps at 149-3 in their second innings.

The Bears gained an unexpected advantage of 81 runs when they collected 268 against the Zebras here at the NBP Sports Complex. Leg-spinner Mansoor Ahmed captured seven fir 80 in 36.3 overs.

The Zebras hurried to 278-3 in the second innings to give their bowlers enough time on the last day for the outright win they desperately seek.

Arsalan Bashir scored 113 (171 balls, 16 fours and three sixes) and skipper Owais Ahmed Rehmani an unbeaten 106 (187 balls, 13 fours) to enable their team lead by 197 runs at the moment.

Meanwhile, PIA ended their league programme by storming to a six straight triumph when they whipped PTV by an innings and 18 runs at Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

Close of play scores and results on Thursday (day three of four):

Group-I:

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: KARACHI ZEBRAS 187 in 84.2 overs (Ahmed Iqbal 65, Faraz Patel 49; Gohar Faiz 5-56, Nazar Hussain 3-47, Zainullah 2-43); QUETTA BEARS 256-8 in 99.3 overs (Arun Lal 73 not out, Rameez Raja Jr 67, Taimur Khan 38; Mansoor Ahmed 6-77, Maroof Aziz 2-48).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE EAGLES 334 in 113.3 overs (Fahad-ul-Haq 138, Asif Raza 40, Mohammad Waqas 31; Babar Khan 5-114, Mir Ali Talpur 3-71, Lal Kumar 2-51) and 149-3 in 39 overs (Mohammad Waheed 59 not out, Mohammad Waqas 34; HYDERABAD HAWKS 238 in 83.3 overs (Azeem Ghumman 72, Mohammad Saddam 39, Shoaib Leghari 30; Shahid Nawaz 3-39, Ahmed Bashir 3-66, Mohammad Suleman 2-46, Asif Raza 2-58).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: PIA beat Pakistan Television by an innings and 18 runs.

PAKISTAN TELEVISION 133 in 42 overs (Hasan Raza Jr 38, Mohammad Kashif 30; Najaf Shah 6-31, Ali Imran Pasha 3-57) and 317 in 88.1 overs (Raheel Majeed 174, Rehan Afridi 53; Najaf Shah 4-58, Ali Imran Pasha 2-51, Hazrat Shah 2-101); PIA 468-6 declared in 98 overs (Shaharyar Ghani 152 not out, Shoaib Khan 114 not out, Faisal Iqbal 47, Rafaiy Safdar 39, Shahzar Mohammad 33; Mohammad Abbas 3-146, Ali Raza 2-114).

Group-II:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: Bahawalpur Stags beat Faisalabad Wolves by six wickets.

FAISALABAD WOLVES 76 in 31.2 overs (Raheel Ameer 24; Zahir Siddiqui 6-36, Imranullah Aslam 3-10) and 154 in 76.1 overs (Imran Ahmed 29; Imranullah Aslam 4-55, Ansar Javed 2-26, Zahir Siddiqui 2-35); BAHAWALPUR STAGS 198 in 83.2 overs (Zahir Siddiqui 62, Bilal Khilji 37; Sadaqat Ali 7-78, Naseer Akram 2-18) and 35-4 in 12 overs (Fahim Ashraf 2-9, Sadaqat Ali 2-24).

At Sports Stadium, Sargodha: SSGC 312 in 101.2 overs (Mohammad Waqas 76, Saifullah Khan Bangash 74, Mohammad Irfan 54 not out, Usman Tariq 31; Zafar Gohar 5-80, Kashif Bhatti 2-85); STATE BANK 248-4 in 70 overs (Babar Azam 92, Usman Salahuddin 55 not out, Maqbool Ahmed 55).

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: Sialkot Stallions beat Abbottabad Falcons by six wickets.

ABBOTTABAD FALCONS 229 in 63.5 overs (Ikramullah Khan 46 not out, Nasir Khan 41, Khalilullah 32; Waqas Ahmed 4-82, Hasan Ali 3-68) and 91 in 36.5 overs (Zubair Ali 26; Waqas Ahmed 7-37, Hasan Ali 2-42); SIALKOT STALLIONS 208 in 66.4 overs (Faisal Khan 53, Salman Cheema 44; Ikramullah Khan 4-39, Aziz-ur-Rehman 4-48) and 114-4 in 22.2 overs (Bilal Hussain 45 not out; Haris Khan 2-18, Aziz-ur-Rehman 2-65).

Published in Dawn, November 21th, 2014