KARACHI: Fighting knocks by Mohammad Nawaz, Umar Waheed and Qaiser Abbas guided National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to a respectable 239-8 on the opening day of the Gold League final in the Haier Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship here on Monday.

After having lost the toss when Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) Taufiq Umar called correctly, NBP endured a difficult first session on a National Stadium track assisting seam bowling.

Upcoming left-armer Manzoor Khan extracted generous movement both in the air and off the pitch. His opening spell spelt doom for the top-order batting as NBP found themselves in dire straits at 26-3 at the start of the 12th over with all the wickets taken by the Fata youngster.

However, NBP had every reason to be aggrieved in the second over of the morning when Nasir Jamshed (3) was aghast at being adjudged caught behind by international umpire Shozab Raza. The delivery from Manzoor missed the left-hander’s bat by at least four inches.

Shozab, who has been found incorrigibly incompetent in international matches of late as well as in major domestic finals, got it horribly wrong yet again and obviously gave his verdict solely on the sound of the bat grazing the pitch as Nasir aimed for an expansive drive through the off-side field.

But there was no doubt whatsoever in the subsequent two dismissals. Sami Aslam (13) didn’t carry on after surviving 45 minutes when edged a slanting delivery that he could have easily left.

Fawad Alam (1) then committed the mistake of not adjusting to the conditions and comprehensively lost his middle stump to the sixth ball he faced.

Nawaz, the fourth left-hander in the top four, and Umar Waheed then got their heads down to resurrect the innings in a superb partnership during which the two 20-year-olds added 106 in 154 minutes on either side of the lunch interval.

Nawaz, spoken in several quarters as a bright prospect, displayed exemplary temperament as did his former Pakistan Under-19 World Cup team-mate. Nawaz played numerous eye-catching strokes with a couple of cover-driven boundaries being the hallmark of his excellent innings.

Just as it appeared that NBP will head into the tea break in a position of real strength, SNGPL hit back through an unlikely source. Azhar Ali, who started his career as leg-spinner before converting himself into a top-class batsman, struck twice in successive deliveries.

Pressed into the attack as the seventh bowler by Taufiq, Azhar got the much-needed breakthrough with the fourth ball of his second over when he deceived Nawaz in the air to have him brilliantly stumped by Adnan Akmal for 76, a 139-ball knock featuring 13 boundaries in a stay of 198 minutes.

Next ball saw NBP skipper Kamran Akmal slicing a catch down substitute Imran Butt’s lap at short point. It was an ill-advised shot by a vastly experienced player who was on the cusp of 10,000 runs. Kamran went too to his liking when he attempted to cut and as result got a top-edge instead.

Umar and Qaiser Abbas then negotiated 16 overs before the former was tragically run out when he slipped after attempting a run which was never there. The throw from Mohammad Rizwan to Adnan found Umar well short of the crease. Umar, who batted for 214 minutes, scored 48 off 160 balls with the aid of seven fours.

Yasir Shah toiled through to 19 overs without any luck but with the first ball of his 20th over, the Test leggie trapped Wahab Riaz lbw for 13.

Asad Ali also had to struggle for his first victim. Armed with the second new ball, he bowled Raza Hasan with the fourth delivery of his 14th over to have NBP at 215-8.

But Qaiser batted with composure through the stumps which arrived at 5:28pm on the completion of the mandatory 90 overs. The left-hander, who played a solitary Test against England in 2000 without much success, had reached 56 in a 121-ball innings containing six hits to the fence.

Ahmed Jamal, not known for his batting prowess, provided Qaiser solid support in the unfinished stand of 24.

Manzoor ended the day with three for 42 in 16 overs with Azhar taking 2-35 in 11 overs.

Scoreboard

NATIONAL BANK (1st Innings):

Nasir Jamshed c Adnan b Manzoor 3

Sami Aslam c Adnan b Manzoor 13

Mohammad Nawaz st Adnan b Azhar 76

Fawad Alam b Manzoor 1

Umar Waheed run out 48

Kamran Akmal c sub b Azhar 0

Qaiser Abbas not out 56

Wahab Riaz lbw b Yasir 13

Raza Hasan b Asad 8

Ahmed Jamal not out 9

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, W-1) 12

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 90 overs) 239

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-22, 3-26, 4-132, 5-132, 6-165, 7-192, 8-215.

TO BAT: Zia-ul-Haq.

SNGPL: Naeemuddin, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shehzad, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Imran Ali, Manzoor Khan, Asad Ali.

BOWLING (to-date): Asad Ali 16-4-38-1; Manzoor Khan

20-8-42-3; Imran Ali 15-3-40-0 (1w); Yasir Shah 26-6-58-1; Mohammad Rizwan 1-0-9-0; Taufiq Umar 1-0-6-0; Azhar Ali 11-2-35-2.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza.

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.

Published in Dawn December 23th , 2014