KARACHI: Paceman Azizullah grabbed a nine-wicket match haul as Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) annihilated Port Qasim Authority (PQA) by innings and 119 runs in less than three days to close gap on pool leaders United Bank Limited in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Wednesday.

Azizullah, 23, sliced through the sorry-looking PQA second innings of 69 all out to take six for 36 in 10.5 overs at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad to put SNGPL a point behind UBL (33 points) after chalking up their second win in five matches.

Resuming at 25-4, PQA were blown away in 13 overs of the first session with just Shahzaib Hasan (19), captain Khalid Latif (15) and Ali Khan (11) reaching double figures as Azizullah finished with match bag of 9-62.

UBL were poised to record their fourth success in the championship after skipper Younis Khan forced Sui Southern Gas Company (SSG) to follow on at the Marghazar Cricket Ground in Islamabad.

On a day badly disrupted by fading light, only 50.2 overs of play was possible. Having started their overnight first innings at 87-4 in reply to UBL’s 514-8 declared, SSGC had reached 175-0 thanks to the 129-run partnership between Asif Zakir (62) and Awais Zia (72).

But once all-rounder Hammad Azam made the breakthrough by dismissing both Asif and Awais, SSGC lost the last six wickets for the addition of only 69 runs. Left-arm pacer Mir Hamza took 4-50 in 27 overs.

Batting again, SSGC survived two overs to score 5-0.

Khan Research Laboratories were left to face a daunting chase against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) at the National Ground in Islamabad. After HBL had closed their second innings at 133-8, KRL lost two wickets for 45 runs in pursuit of a 313-run target when play ended early.

KRL’s seamer Mohammad Abbas ended up taking match figures of 10-140 after capturing 4-56 in HBL’s second innings.

Only 63.1 overs of action was possible at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot where Wapda collected 214-4 in their second innings to claim an overall lead of 328 against Pool ‘B’ leaders National Bank of Pakistan (NBP).

Ex-Pakistan U-19 skipper Sami Aslam scored his maiden double century to help Lahore Whites amass 508-9 declared against Fata at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

The left-handed Sami, who played two Tests with modest success against Bangladesh earlier this year, added exactly 100 runs after resuming at 121. He was finally dismissed for 221 after striking 24 boundaries during his marathon 435-ball knock in a 594-minute stay.

Skipper Usman Salahuddin was out without adding to his Tuesday’s score of 111 while adding 240 for the fourth wicket with Sami.

Fata, who began their second innings with a deficit of 194, were 54-2 at draw of stumps.

Peshawar skipper Zohaib Khan slammed his second successive century in the event to enable his team to take a 28-run lead on the first innings against Lahore Blues at the LCCA Ground in Lahore. Zohaib made 108 (251 balls, seven fours).

Lahore Blues reached 83-1 in their second innings to lead by 55 runs.

Despite seamer Adeel Malik taking 10-128 in the match, Karachi Whites were heading for an embarrassing defeat against Rawalpindi at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

Chasing a modest 182, Karachi Whites adopted a snail-paced approach to muster 68-6 in 38 overs of torturous display before play ended early because of poor light after Adeel had taken a career-best six for 74 as Rawalpindi made 218 in the second innings.

Just 42.2 over of play could be held at the Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital during which Hyderabad moved from 28-2 to 170-7 in their second innings against Islamabad to have an overall lead of 238.

Close of play scores and result on Wednesday (day three of four):

Fifth round:

Pool ‘A’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited beat Port Qasim Authority by an innings and 119 runs.

PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 119 in 42.3 overs (Shahzaib Hasan 30, Mohammad Talha 23; Ahmed Safi 2-21, Bilawal Bhatti 3-23, Azizullah 3-26) and 69 in 21.5 overs (Shahzaib Hasan 19; Azizullah 6-36, Bilawal Bhatti 2-6, Samiullah Khan Niazi 2-22); SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPELINES LIMITED 307 in 94.2 overs (Azhar Ali 142, Azizullah 32, Bilawal Bhatti 25; Zohaib Shera 6-84, Mohammad Talha 2-101).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE BLUES 267 in 86.4 overs (Saad Nasim 67, Agha Salman 54, Tayyab Tahir 41, Fahad-ul-Haq 26; Umair Khan 4-60, Taj Wali 4-90, Zohaib Khan 2-41) and 83-1 in 27 overs (Waqas Saleem 27, Mohammad Ikhlaq 27 not out, Tayyab Tahir 20); PESHAWAR 295 in 106 overs (Zohaib Khan 108, Akbar Badshah 66, Gohar Ali 23, Israrullah 22; Ahmed Bashir 4-67, Bilawal Iqbal 2-55, Saad Nasim 2-69).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: HYDERABAD 279 in 79.5 overs (Shoaib Leghari 48, Haris Khan 45, Lal Kumar 35, Rizwan Ahmed 33, Hazrat Shah 26 not out; Shehzad Azam Rana 3-47, Hasan Ali 3-81, Junaid Nadir 2-59, Zohaib Ahmed 2-60) and 170-7 in 51 overs (Azeem Ghumman 60, Shoaib Leghari 52 not out; Shahzad Azam Rana 4-27, Sarmad Bhatti 2-23); ISLAMABAD 211 in 54.1 overs (Zohaib Ahmed 68, Sarmad Bhatti 40, Junaid Nadir 24, Abid Ali 23, Shahid Yousuf 21; Babar Khan 6-59, Sajjad Hussain 2-55).

At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: UNITED BANK LIMITED 514-8 declared in 123 overs (Shan Masood 97, Umair Khan 87, Hammad Azam 72 not out, Sharjeel Khan 72, Saeed bin Nasir 53, Younis Khan 42, Yasim Murtaza 35; Adnan Ghaus 3-125, Zafar Gohar 2-79, Tabish Khan 2-99); SUI SOUTHERN GAS COMPANY 244 in 79.4 overs (Awais Zia 72, Asif Zakir 62, Usama Mir 29, Tabish Khan 24; Mir Hamza 4-50, Ehsan Adil 2-45, Hammad Azam 2-56) and 5-0 in 2 overs.

Pool ‘B’:

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED TRIBAL AREAS 314 in 65.2 overs (Fawad Khan 108, Rehan Afridi 52, Mohammad Irfan 40, Nisar Ahmed 27, Haroon Sadaqat 22, Khushdil Shah 20; Saif-ur-Rehman 5-76, Asif Raza 2-82) and 54-2 in 13 overs (Fawad Khan 28 not out; Fahad Masood 2-21); LAHORE WHITES 267-3 in 86 overs (Sami Aslam 221, Usman Salahuddin 111, Junaid Zia 33, Asif Raza 33, Mohammad Waheed 29, Faisal Khan 28; Mohammad Zeeshan 3-112, Ibrahim Gul 2-74).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: WAPDA 315 in 83.5 overs (Aamir Sajjad 100, Bismillah Khan 84, Mohammad Saad 33, Zulfiqar Babar 29; Zia-ul-Haq 4-82, Ataullah 3-61, Akbar-ur-Rehman 2-5) and 214-4 in 63.3 overs (Atiq-ur-Rehman 80, Aamir Sajjad 64 not out, Adnan Raees 20; Zia-ul-Haq 2-57); NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN 201 in 63 overs (Qaiser Abbas 93 not out, Mohammad Nawaz 30; Azhar Attari 6-57, Adnan Raees 2-2, Waqas Maqsood 2-49).

At National Ground, Islamabad: HABIB BANK LIMITED 278 in 94.4 overs (Imran Farhat 95, Aftab Khan 74, Hasan Raza 33, Asad Shafiq 24; Mohammad Abbas 6-84, Sadaf Hussain 4-55) and 133-8 declared in 49 overs (Mohammad Waqas 50 not out, Imran Farhat 20; Mohammad Abbas 4-56, Yasir Ali 3-49); KHAN RESEARCH LABORATORIES 99 in 29.2 overs (Umar Gul 4-31, Abdur Rehman 3-13, Ammad Butt 2-22) and 45-2 in 21 overs (Zain Abbas 31 not out).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: RAWALPINDI 172 in 50.2 overs (Aaqib Shah 54; Adeel Malik 4-54, Babar Rehman 3-43, Ghulam Mudassar 3-61) and 218 in 64.4 overs (Usman Saeed 70, Yasir Arafat 47, Babar Naeem 28; Adeel Malik 6-74, Babar Rehman 2-53); KARACHI WHITES 209 in 62.3 overs (Faisal Iqbal 54, Haris Ali Khan 36, Saad Ali 27, Jaahid Ali 24, Mohammad Hasan 20; Saad Altaf 4-84, Naseer Ahmed 3-62, Abid Hasan 2-50) and 68-6 in 38 overs (Jaahid Ali 30; Abid Hasan 3-15).

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2015