KARACHI: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) further strengthened position at the top of the Gold League standings in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship when they decimated United Bank by 169 runs on Friday.

Arguably the strongest outfit on the first-class circuit in the country over the past three seasons, SNGPL — who are coached by former Pakistan batsman Basit Ali — extended their tally of points to 51 with their sixth victory in seven matches by dismissing United Bank for a dismal 122 in their second innings at the Marghazar Cricket Ground in Islamabad.

Veteran left-arm seamer Samiullah Khan Niazi wrecked the United Bank top-order with the wickets of Hamza Paracha, Ahsan Ali and Ali Asad in a fiery opening burst with the new ball. He ended up taking four for 34 in 12 overs.

A determined century from upcoming opener Iftikhar Ahmed helped Wapda, who were forced to follow on, earned an honourable draw against National Bank at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

The 24-year-old right-hander from Peshawar showed tremendous powers of concentration against a formidable bowling attack to hit a career-best 150 not out while occupying the crease for more than eight fours.

During his stay of 504 minutes, Iftikhar negotiated 381 deliveries and laced his third first-class century with 21 boundaries as Wapda reached 311-8 after starting the day at a precarious 85-4.

Iftikhar, who also bowls useful off-spinners, is the leading run-getter this season with an impressive tally of 736 runs at 66.90. All of his three hundreds have been scored in the ongoing competition.

Wahab Riaz, the Pakistan fast bowler who has regained full fitness, claimed his first two wickets since returning from the knee injury that ended his aspirations of playing the Test series against Australia last month.

For their Herculean effort, Wapda gained a point while National Bank had to settle for just three points.

Port Qasim Authority (PQA) replaced National Bank at No 2 slot in the standings after humiliating ZTBL by innings and 17 runs at the National Cricket Ground in the federal capital. Although both teams have accumulated 44 points at the end of the seventh round but PQA have won five matches to the bankers’ four.

PQA’s well-deserved win was set up by long-discarded Pakistan paceman Abdur Rauf who grabbed six wickets for 108 runs in 27 overs.

The writing on the wall for ZTBL was obvious after they had nosedived to 68-3 after being forced to follow-on the previous afternoon. They ultimately managed to collect 273 only due to a tenacious seventh-wicket stand of 81 between Sohail Tanvir (63) and Zohaib Khan (25).

Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik had a poor game. After having been clattered to all parts of the ground to the tune of 74 runs in 8.2 overs as PQA amassed 508, the ZTBL captain was dismissed for eight and four, by Sohail Khan and Mohammad Sami, respectively.

In the only other fixture that ended on Friday, Rawalpindi Rams took three first-innings’ points after their arch foes Islamabad Leopards batted out for a draw at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.

The games finishing inside three days on Thursday, Karachi Dolphins crushed Multan Tigers by an innings and 182 runs while Peshawar Panthers defeated Lahore Lions by nine wickets.

The next round of fixtures in the premier championship starts from Monday.

Scores and results on Friday (final day of four):

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Match drawn.

NATIONAL BANK 399 in 126 overs (Sami Aslam 162, Fawad Alam 69, Nasir Jamshed 53, Wahab Riaz 31; Azhar Attari 4-87, Waqas Maqsood 2-93); WAPDA 231 in 88.4 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 56, Adnan Raees 48, Ayaz Tasawwar 38, Ali Azmat 35; Zia-ul-Haq 5-55, Hammad Azam 3-61) and 311-8 in 127 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 150 not out, Ayaz Tasawwar 43; Ahmed Jamal 3-82, Wahab Riaz 2-39, Raza Hasan 2-56).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Match drawn.

RAWALPINDI RAMS 351 in 90.4 overs (Naved Malik 80, Usman Saeed 78, Yasim Murtaza 61, Zahid Mansoor 42; Zohaib Ahmed 3-91, Hamza Nadeem 2-49, Imad Wasim 2-52, Shehzad Azam Rana 2-97) and 261-8 declared in 81 overs (Naved Malik 89, Shoaib Nasir 50, Yasim Murtaza 31; Umar Kayani 3-14, Shehzad Azam Rana 3-89, Hamza Nadeem 2-46); ISLAMABAD LEOPARDS 253 in 91.1 overs (Sarmad Bhatti 86, Imad Wasim 78, Umar Kayani 38; Haseeb Azam 5-74, Rizwan Akbar 3-59, Rashid Latif 2-27) and 152-4 in 51 overs (Mohammad Irfan 51 not out, Ali Sarfraz 46; Rizwan Akbar 2-40) .

At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: SNGPL beat United Bank by 169 runs.

SNGPL 289 in 108.2 overs (Khurram Shehzad 89, Ali Waqas 66, Imran Butt 37; Prince Abbas 5-81, Ali Zahid 3-56) and 268-8 declared in 69 overs (Naeemuddin 101, Imran Butt 50; Ali Zahid 5-72, Rumman Raees Khan 2-66); UNITED BANK 266 in 71.5 overs (Ali Asad 79, Bismillah Khan 79; Ahmed Safi Abdullah 4-41, Samiullah Khan Niazi 3-56, Imran Ali 2-65) and 122 in 33.4 overs (Mohammad Wajihuddin 37, Rumman Raees Khan 37; Samiullah Khan Niazi 4-34, Bilawal Bhatti 2-24, Imran Ali 2-27, Ahmed Safi Abdullah 2-33) .

At National Cricket Ground, Islamabad: Port Qasim Authority beat ZTBL by an innings and 17 runs.

PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 508 in 150.1 overs (Khurram Manzoor 139, Umar Amin 58, Shahzaib Hasan 50, Kamran Younis 50, Sohail Khan 46, Daniyal Ahsan 33; Zohaib Khan 3-103, Rao Iftikhar 2-68, Kashif Daud 2-79); ZTBL 218 in 65.1 overs (Zohaib Khan 55, Shahid Yousuf 36, Shakeel Ansar 31, Sohail Tanvir 30; Sohail Khan 5-55, Umar Amin 2-13, Abdur Rauf 2-53) and 273 in 71.3 overs (Sohail Tanvir 63, Shahid Yousuf 47, Rameez Alam 44, Sharjeel Khan 35; Abdur Rauf 6-108, Sohail Khan 2-50).

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2014