KARACHI: Tabish Khan grabbed an 11-wicket haul to help Karachi Whites become the first winners of the new first-class season as the regional side defeated PIA by five wickets in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Monday.

Tabish followed up his 6-47 in the first innings by taking the last two second-innings wicket that PIA lost on penultimate day of the four-day fixture at the UBL Sports Complex.

The 31-year-old right-armer once again nudged the national selectors with a fine display by fourth 10-for in his 99-match career of 427 wickets at under 25. Tabish’s 5-29 on Monday gave him match figures of 11-76 in 39.4 overs.

Karachi Whites — who fell seven runs behind on the first innings — collected six points by reaching the target of 185 five into the scheduled tea international with Babar Hussain Agha making a 64-ball 48.

Pakistan discard Khurram Manzoor had the honour of scoring the season’s first double century with a magnificent career-best effort of 250 as Karachi Blues took advantage of a now-placid National Stadium track to bat themselves into a comfort zone against last season’s runners-up United Bank Limited (UBL) at 491-4 in the second innings to lead by 317 runs heading into Tuesday’s last day.

The 30-year-old usurped his previous highest score of 241 — made for PIA against KRL — in the Quaid Trophy game at the same venue in October 2009 by striking 39 boundaries while negotiating 340 balls during a stay of 481 minutes.

Haris Ali Khan also underlined his potential with 92 (off 160 balls, nine fours) in the fine opening partnership of 201 in 266 minutes with Khurram, while Mohammad Waqas made 74 (114 balls, seven fours) as he helped Khurram add 128 in 134 minutes for the third wicket.

Slow left-armer Yasim Murtaza took three for 117, including Khurram who was trapped LBW after forcing Haris to edge one onto the stumps while playing back to provide UBL the first breakthrough.

NBP were in sight of victory after earning a lead of 66 against Lahore Whiles, who then struggled to 82-5 in their second innings at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Fata were 38-2 after being set a target of 369 by holders SNGPL at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Stand-in skipper Mohammad Hafeez closed the champions’ second innings at 264-4.

Islamabad secured a 35-run lead by bowling out SSGC for 382 at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. Adil Amin was the top-scorer for the departmental side with 90.

Rawalpindi were heading for defeat after being reduced to 156-6 by KRL while chasing 243 at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

HBL were also closing in on victory as Peshawar reached 86-2 in pursuit of a target of 371 at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

Lahore Blues were 145-3 after being forced to follow on by Wapda at the LCCA Ground in Lahore with giant Pakistan paceman Mohammad Irfan taking 5-38 in the Blues’ first innings of 140.

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

First round:

Pool ‘A’:

At National Stadium, Karachi (day/night fixture): KARACHI BLUES 111 in 44.3 overs (Mohammad Waqas 33, Haris Ali Khan 20, Khalid Latif 22; Hammad Azam 3-14, Yasim Murtaza 3-18, Rumman Raees Khan 2-23) and 491-4 in 122 overs (Khurram Manzoor 250, Haris Ali Khan 92, Mohammad Waqas 74, Fazal Subhan 36, Khalid Latif 21 not out; Yasim Murtaza 3-117); UBL 285 in 93.4 overs (Umair Khan 111 not out, Shan Masood 46, Yasim Murtaza 29, Rumman Raees Khan 28; Mohammad Sami 3-70, Adeel Malik 3-83, Abdul Ameer 2-43).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: WAPDA 330 in 93 overs (Kamran Akmal 115, Aamir Sajjad 78, Ayaz Tasawwar 52 not out, Salman Butt 31; Bilawal Iqbal 4-71, Waqas Ahmed 3-77); LAHORE BLUES 140 in 59.1 overs (Raza Ali Dar 77 not out; Mohammad Irfan 5-28, Khalid Usman 2-43) and 145-3 in 51 overs (Tayyab Tahir 80, Waqas Saleem 40; Khalid Usman 3-45).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ISLAMABAD 417 in 139.5 overs (Shahid Yousuf 102, Abid Ali 101, Afaq Raheem 61, Zohaib Ahmed 58, Naeem Anjum 34; Ahmed Jamal 6-86, Mohammad Irfan 2-64, Zafar Gohar 2-83) and 21-0 in 5 overs; SSGC 382 in 110.1 overs (Adil Amin 90, Aamir Yamin 77 not out, Fawad Alam 68, Awais Zia 54, Ali Asad 51; Shehzad Azam Rana 5-93, Hamza Nadeem 3-58).

At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar: HBL 462-9 declared in 139 overs (Imran Farhat 112, Zohaib Khan 75, Aftab Khan 51, Usman Shinwari 50 not out, Imam-ul-Haq 49, Azeem Ghumman 41, Ahmed Shehzad 21; Shahzaib Ahmed 3-156, Akbar Badshah 2-44, Mohammad Imran Khan 2-55) and 147-7 in 34.2 overs (Azeem Ghumman 59, Zohaib Khan 42l Shahzaib Ahmed 5-57); PESHAWAR 239 in 43.4 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 86, Israrullah 40, Shahzaib Ahmed 39, Mohammad Imran Khan 29, Mehran Ibrahim 21; Amad Butt 4-58, Yamin Ahmadzai 2-49, Abdur Rehman 2-57 and 86-2 in 22 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 48 not out, Israrullah 27; Abdur Rehman 2-29).

Pool ‘B’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Karachi Whites beat PIA by five wickets.

PIA 167 in 53 overs (Shahid Ilyas 71, Faisal Iqbal 32; Tabish Khan 6-47) and 177 in 56.4 overs (Shahzar Mohammad 38, Kamran Sajid 36, Najaf Shah 27 not out; Tabish Khan 5-29, Azam Hussain 3-59, Faraz Ali 2-9); KARACHI WHITES 160 in 50.3 overs (Behram Khan 68 not out, Faraz Ali 51; Ali Imran Pasha 7-20, Najaf Shah 3-42) and 185-5 in 38 overs (Babar Hussain Agha 48, Behram Khan 36 not out, Shahzaib Hasan 28, Azam Hussain 20; Anwar Ali 2-43).

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: LAHORE WHITES 258 in 94.2 overs (Sami Aslam 140, Mohammad Waqas 31; Afaq Ahmed 4-40, Bilal Asif 2-74) and 82-5 in 33 overs (Farhan Khan 31 not out, Anas Mahmood 28; Atif Jabbar 3-25); NBP 324 in 125.2 overs (Faizan Khan 71, Usman Salahuddin 59, Qaiser Abbas 53, Rameez Raja 50, Naved Yasin 24; Umaid Asif 3-48, Qaiser Ashraf 3-68, Adnan Rasool 2-60).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SNGPL 493-7 declared in 113 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 127, Adnan Akmal 114 not out Mohammad Hafeez 68, Hussain Talat 55, Imran Khalid 40, Khurram Shehzad 39, Taufiq Umar 28; Irfanullah Shah 3-93, Ahmed Asfandyar 2-70) and 234-4 declared in 30 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 68, Adnan Akmal 60 not out, Hussain Talat 52 not out, Naeemuddin 24; Ahmed Asfandyar 3-69); FATA 359 in 93.5 overs (Khushdil Shah 82, Mohammad Irfan 59, Asif Ali 58 not out, Mohammad Naeem 40, Fawad Khan 34, Rehan Afridi 31, Haroon Sadaqat 27; Imran Khalid 4-67, Samiullah Khan Niazi 3-79).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: KRL 175 in 67.1 overs (Zulfiqar Jan 46, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 43; Abid Hasan 4-40, Sohail Tanvir 3-18, Ataullah 2-30) and 181 in 64 overs (Abdul Rehman Muzammil 63 not out, Saeed Anwar Jr 30, Mohammad Yasin 20; Ataullah 5-53, Abid Hasan 2-39); RAWALPINDI 114 in 48 overs (Yasir Hameed 28, Shoaib Nasir 26; Sadaf Hussain 4-50, Yasir Ali 3-28, Mohammad Abbas 3-28) and 156-6 in 59 overs (Sohail Tanvir 62 not out, Yasir Hameed 41; Sadaf Hussain 3-70, Mohammad Abbas 2-35).

Published in Dawn October 4th, 2016