KARACHI: HBL, SSGC and Wapda moved closer to the Super Eight round of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship by securing wins on Tuesday but PIA succumbed to a third successive defeat when Fata upstaged the national carrier by a convincing margin.

HBL, as expected, completed Karachi Blues’ misery at the UBL Sports Complex here by cruising to a nine-wicket success three minutes before the scheduled tea interval on the last day afternoon of the four-day fixture.

Resuming at 125-1, Karachi Blues were jolted in the early period of play when the overnight pair of Haris Ali (45) and Fazal Subhan (51), who added 94 for the second wicket, as well as Mohammad Waqas Jr were dismissed in the space of six deliveries for no runs to Yamin Ahmadzai and Usman Khan Shinwari.

Yamin, the pacer from Afghanistan, dismissed Fazal and Waqas off successive balls after the left-armer Usman sent back Haris in the previous over before ending up with 4-79 in 21 overs. The duo shared 13 wickets between them.

Pakistan discard Mohammad Sami emerged as the top-scorer for the second time in this game as the fast bowler hit an undefeated 53 (off 69 balls, four fours and two sixes). Captain Khalid Latif contributed a 52-ball 34 with six boundaries but it was never going to prevent HBL sealing a second win that lifted to second behind Pool ‘A’ outright leaders Wapda with 18 points.

Wapda took just nine overs to decimate Islamabad by an innings and 100 runs in the day-night game at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi where floodlights were not required to be switched on.

Islamabad mustered just 23 runs to the total after starting at 225-5 with slow left-armer Khalid Usman taking 4-64, including the wickets of Pakistan all-rounder Imad Wasim (51) and Islamabad skipper Zohaib Ahmed (56).

Wapda earned 10 points to take their tally to 28 from three straight wins.

SSGC tasted success for the first time this season when they annihilated Lahore Blues by an innings and 46 runs at the LCCA Ground in Lahore where they needed only 20 overs to take the last eight wickets for the addition of 38 runs after the regional side began at 67-2.

The wrecker-in-chief was discarded Pakistan pace-bowling all-rounder Aamir Yamin who captured career-best figures of 6-13 in 10 overs.

Fata were the last regional outfit to humiliate PIA who imploded yet again in a heavy 157-run drubbing at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Despite long-discarded Test batsman Faisal Iqbal hitting a defiant 74 (128 balls, 10 fours and one six), PIA capitulated from 99-3 with the last six wickets falling for 88 runs.

In their previous two outings, PIA were defeated by Karachi Whites and Lahore Whites.

KRL retained top spot in Pool ‘B’ after holders SNGPL earned just three points in the drawn tie against Lahore Whites at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Rameez Alam struck 130 (198 balls, 20 fours and two sixes) as the regional team made 332 in the second innings.

Rawalpindi secured their first three points when their fixture against NBP ended in a thrilling draw at the Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital.

After being dismissed for 214, Rawalpindi then grabbed nine NBP wickets for 215 after the latter were set 228 for victory.

The fourth-round of matches begins from Saturday.

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

Third round:

Pool ‘A’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: HBL beat Karachi Blues by nine wickets.

KARACHI BLUES 157 in 57.4 overs (Mohammad Sami 44, Fazal Subhan 34, Haris Ali 26; Yamin Ahmadzai 4-36, Usman Khan Shinwari 3-13, Abdur Rehman 2-33) and 286 in 75.3 overs (Mohammad Sami 53 not out, Fazal Subhan 51, Haris Ali 45, Khurram Manzoor 35, Khalid Latif 34; Usman Khan Shinwari 4-79, Zohaib Khan 2-12, Abdur Rehman 2-60, Yamin Ahmadzai 2-87); HBL 420-9 declared in 140.3 overs (Ramiz Aziz 119 not out, Imran Farhat 64, Ahmed Shehzad 54, Yamin Ahmadzai 30 not out, Imam-ul-Haq 26, Azeem Ghumman 23, Jamal Anwar 21, Abdur Rehman 20; Abdul Ameer 3-116, Mohammad Sami 2-57, Basit Ali 2-107) and 24-1 in 6.1 overs.

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: SSGC beat Lahore Blues by an innings and 46 runs.

LAHORE BLUES 266 in 117.4 overs (Waqas Saleem 122, Raza Ali Dar 74, Mohammad Ikhlaq 30; Zafar Gohar 6-80, Zia-ul-Haq 2-43, Shoaib Malik 2-53) and 111 in 42 overs (Mohammad Ikhlaq 27, Waqas Saleem 22; Aamir Yamin 6-13, Zia-ul-Haq 2-18, Zafar Gohar 2-54); SSGC 423 in 114.3 overs (Asif Zakir 128, Awais Zia 78, Shoaib Malik 74, Adil Amin 47, Fawad Alam 35, Aamir Yamin 21, Zafar Gohar 21; Saad Nasim 3-72, Haider Ali 3-102, Bilawal Iqbal 2-85).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi (day-night fixture): Wapda beat Islamabad by an innings and 100 runs.

WAPDA 504 in 142.4 overs (Kamran Akmal 103, Khalid Usman 96 not out, Mohammad Saad 94, Salman Butt 76, Zahid Mansoor 46, Adnan Raees 34; Imad Wasim 4-90, Hasan Ali 2-101); ISLAMABAD 156 in 55 overs (Shahid Yousuf 55, Raheel Majeed 46; Waqas Maqsood 5-35, Khalid Usman 2-32, Mohammad Asif 2-51) and 248 in 80 overs (Zohaib Ahmed 56, Imad Wasim 54, Ali Sarfraz 51, Shahid Yousuf 42; Khalid Usman 4-64, Mohammad Asif 2-19, Zahid Mansoor 2-58).

Pool ‘B’:

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: Match drawn.

LAHORE WHITES 367 in 106 overs (Anas Mahmood 147, Farhan Khan 68 not out, Gohar Hafeez 54, Umaid Asif 43; Imran Khalid 4-80, Manzoor Khan 3-97, Imran Ali 2-76) and 332 in 88.1 overs (Rameez Alam 130, Farhan Khan 46, Mohammad Waqas 27, Anas Mahmood 26, Asif Raza 24; Asad Ali 4-82, Iftikhar Ahmed 2-38, Imran Khalid 2-52); SNGPL 545-9 declared in 132 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 167, Adnan Akmal 107, Hussain Talat 69, Mohammad Hafeez 62, Iftikhar Ahmed 41, Imran Butt 27; Qaiser Ashraf 3-133, Nasir Ali 3-134, Mohammad Waheed 2-43) and 21-0 in 4 overs.

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: Fata beat PIA by 157 runs.

FATA 237 in 62.5 overs (Fawad Khan 65, Asif Afridi 58, Mohammad Naeem 24, Mohammad Irfan 20; Tahir Khan 3-33, Ali Imran Pasha 3-47, Anwar Ali 2-48, Aizaz Cheema 2-57) and 342 in 93.2 overs (Mohammad Naeem 96, Khushdil Shah 46, Fawad Khan 41, Abdul Aziz 41, Asif Ali 40, Saleemullah Burki 31; Ali Imran Pasha 4-61, Tahir Khan 3-97, Aizaz Cheema 2-50); PIA 235 in 76.5 overs (Anwar Ali 52, Faisal Iqbal Kamran Sajid 40, Najaf Shah 40; Irfanullah Shah 5-49, Saad Altaf 4-91) and 187 in 56.4 overs (Faisal Iqbal 74, Shahid Ilyas 51, Anwar Ali 34; Asif Afridi 3-19, Irfanullah Shah 3-52, Mohammad Irfan 2-5).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Match drawn.

RAWALPINDI 266 in 89.2 overs (Sarmad Hameed 85, Umar Waheed 68, Sohail Tanvir 34, Aaqib Shah 24; Altaf Ahmed 4-69, Mohammad Irfan 3-83, Atif Jabbar 2-49) and 214 in 72.4 overs (Sohail Tanvir 44, Naved Malik 38, Aaqib Shah 26, Sarmad Hameed 22, Mohammad Talha 21; Altaf Ahmed 5-44, Mohammad Irfan 5-65); NBP 253 in 94 overs (Naved Yasin 62, Rameez Raja 52, Faizan Khan 43, Qaiser Abbas 26, Usman Salahuddin 21; Sohail Tanvir 6-58, Ataullah 3-47) and 215-9 in 70 overs (Qaiser Abbas 50, Faizan Khan 26 not out, Mohammad Irfan 23; Abid Hasan 5-31, Sohail Tanvir 2-65).

Published in Dawn October 19th, 2016