KARACHI: Holders SNGPL launched their campaign in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Tuesday with resounding 177-run defeat of Fata, while NBP, Wapda and KRL were other teams to record first-round victories.

While Karachi Whites defeated PIA in less than three days of playing time on Monday, the remaining three fixtures were all drawn.

Karachi Blues skipper Khalid Latif benefited from the docile nature of the National Stadium pitch to help himself to career‘s 25th first-class century as the opening day/night fixture of the championship petered out in a laborious draw.

Following Khurram Manzoor’s commanding knock of 250 — the maiden double century in any first-class match with the pink ball across the cricketing world — when Karachi Blues reached 491-4 on Monday, there was nothing much left in the match except a declaration to infuse some life to what had become a boring battle between bat and the ball.

Khalid, the Pakistan T20 opener, and head coach Azam Khan were in no mood to let UBL, who earned three points for their 174-run advantage on the first innings, have a second dig at the crease since a couple of their bowlers were carrying niggles.

Instead of making a sporting declaration, Khalid kept the bankers in the field for almost 77 overs on the last day until his dismissal for 148 (off 261 balls, 12 fours and one six) caused the match to finally end with Karachi Blues posting 702-7 in 198.4 overs.

Owais Ahmed Rehmani made 59 in the 118-run stand for the fifth-wicket with his captain before becoming the fifth wicket for the persevering slow left-armer Yasim Murtaza who finished with figures of 5-213 in 63.4 overs.

Left-arm spinning all-rounder Khalid Usman grabbed a career-best 8-63 in 34.2 overs to help Wapda bowl out Lahore Blues for 217 in the second innings before sealing a 10-wicket success at the LCCA Ground in Lahore.

Seamer Atif Jabbar starred with 5-56 as Lahore Whites were all out for 187 in their second innings to leave NBP make light work of a modest target that earned them a seven-wicket win at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Rawalpindi skipper Sohail Tanvir was left stranded on 99 as his team suffered a 49-run defeat against KRL at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi. The regional side were dismissed for 194 after starting the fourth and final day at 156-6 with paceman Mohammad Abbas taking 5-49.

Fata’s second innings lasted just over a session at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot when they capitulated for 191 after resuming at 38-2 against SNGPL.

HBL and Islamabad both claimed three points apiece in their drawn games against Peshawar and SSGC, respectively.

Meanwhile, the PCB announced on Tuesday that the second-round of matches will now start a day earlier than the scheduled starting day of Saturday in view of the Ashura falling on Tuesday and Wednesday. Thus, all eight fixtures will start on Friday to ensure a Monday finish.

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

First round:

Pool ‘A’:

At National Stadium, Karachi (day/night fixture): Match drawn.

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 702-7 declared in 198.4 overs (Khurram Manzoor 250, Khalid Latif 148, Haris Ali Khan 92, Mohammad Waqas 74, Owais Ahmed Rehmani 59, Fazal Subhan 37; Yasim Murtaza 5-213); 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 beat Lahore Blues by 10 wickets.

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) and 28-0 in 5.5 overs; LAHORE BLUES 140 in 59.1 overs (Raza Ali Dar 77 not out; Mohammad Irfan 5-28, Khalid Usman 2-43) and 217 in 80.2 overs (Tayyab Tahir 80, Zain-ul-Hasnain 55 not out, Waqas Saleem 40; Khalid Usman 8-63).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Match drawn.

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 272-2 in 76 overs (Afaq Raheem 121 not out, Ali Sarfraz 109 not out; Zia-ul-Haq 2-47); 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: Match drawn.

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 declared 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 307-5 in 82.2 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 119, Akbar Badshah 84 not out, Israrullah 27, Mehran Ibrahim 21 not out; Abdur Rehman 4-93).

Pool ‘B’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: NBP beat Lahore Whites by seven wickets.

LAHORE WHITES 258 in 94.2 overs (Sami Aslam 140, Mohammad Waqas 31; Afaq Ahmed 4-40, Bilal Asif 2-74) and 187 in 62.2 overs (Farhan Khan 43, Asif Raza 32, Umaid Asif 32, Anas Mahmood 28; Atif Jabbar 5-56, Afaq Ahmed 2-26, Altaf Ahmed 2-36); 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) and 122-3 in 19.4 overs ((Naved Sarwar 41 not out, Nasir Jamshed 36, Rameez Raja 35; Umaid Asif 2-21).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SNGPL beat Fata by 177 runs.

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 beat Rawalpindi by 48 runs.

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 194 in 59 overs (Sohail Tanvir 99 not out, Yasir Hameed 41; Mohammad Abbas 5-49, Sadaf Hussain 3-79, Yasir Ali 2-28).

Published in Dawn October 5th, 2016