KARACHI: Lahore Blues took huge advantage of Peshawar’s misfortune to seal the last available Super Eight spot in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship by securing a 61-run win over Islamabad in Lahore on Sunday.

Peshawar needed to defeat hosts Faisalabad in the last-round fixture to qualify irrespective of the result of the Gaddafi Stadium match but presence of heavy fog in the industrial city saw the Group ‘A’ game being abandoned without a ball being delivered with each side being awarded just one point each.

Lahore Blues, who trailed Peshawar by three points in fifth spot at the conclusion of the penultimate round, gained nine precious points to finish just ahead of defending champions Wapda — who suffered at a six-wicket debacle at the hands of Group ‘A’ winners Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on Sunday — in third place with a tally of 34 points.

After adding only seven runs to their overnight of 81-8, Lahore Blues shot out Islamabad for 109 as Aizaz Cheema grabbed six wickets for 37 runs while showing signs of fading away at the age of 38. The veteran seamer, who represented Pakistan in 26 international matches, ended up with match bag of 10-70 in 35.1 overs.

Test seamer Mohammad Abbas starred with 6-24 to help SNGPL — who completed their league round undefeated — score their sixth win of the championship when they toppled Wapda without dropping a sweat at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad.

Abbas, who had already taken three wickets on Saturday evening, doubled that tally as Wapda folded up for 117 in their second innings after starting day four at 103-5.

Pakistan discard Iftikhar Ahmed then struck a crisp 51 off 46 balls (nine fours and one six) as SNGPL knocked off the required runs — a target of 127 to be exact — in just 28 overs to warn six points.

Former Pakistan Under-19 left-hander Ali Asad scored 90 (off 163 balls, eight boundaries) as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) battled to 230-5 in their second innings of the drawn encounter against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

The result ensured NBP playing first-class cricket next season with Pakistan Television (PTV), who won promotion for the ongoing championship, being demoted along with Faisalabad, the region that also qualified to compete in the premier competition this year.

Out-of-favour Pakistan paceman Sohail Khan took 5-55 to send Habib Bank Limited (UBL) crashing to a 140-run defeat at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad, while enabling United Bank Limited (UBL) retain their top berth in Group ‘B’.

HBL, overnight 54-2, were dismissed for 220 in their second innings despite Azeem Ghumman (69) and ex-Pakistan star Imran Farhat (68) adding 96 for the fourth wicket.

Lahore Whites settled for three points in the shortened Group ‘B’ game against Karachi Whites at the LCCA Ground in Lahore. Skipper Usman Salahuddin hit up 59 as the hosts reached 144-4 in their second innings.

The championship now takes a lengthy break before the Super Eight phase begins in Karachi and Hyderabad owing to the staging of the already-postponed National T20 Cup.

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

Seventh round:

Group ‘A’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: FAISALABAD vs PESHAWAR — abandoned as a draw with no play on all four days due to foggy weather conditions.

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: Lahore Blues beat Islamabad by 61 runs.

LAHORE BLUES 220 in 51 overs (Tahir Tayyab 86, Saad Nasim 56; Shehzad Azam Rana 6-64, Hamza Nadeem 4-46) and 88 in 30 overs (Tahir Tayyab 19; Shehzad Azam Rana 5-49, Hamza Nadeem 3-33); ISLAMABAD 138 in 60.1 overs (Abid Ali 59; Aizaz Cheema 4-33, Saif-ur-Rehman 3-26, Bilawal Iqbal 3-38) and 109 in 34.1 overs (Mohammad Naqqash 24; Aizaz Cheema 6-37, Bilawal Iqbal 2-27, Saif-ur-Rehman 2-42).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: Match drawn.

NBP 259 in 87.5 overs (Ahsan Ali 90, Bilal Asif 38, Kamran Ghulam 37; Azhar Attari 4-57, Umar Amin 2-22, Aamir Yamin 2-41, Ahmed Jamal 2-60) and 234-5 in 80 overs (Ali Asad 90, Hamza Paracha 50, Ahsan Ali 39; Ahmed Jamal 3-53); SSGC 285 in 96 overs (Muzammil Nizam 90 not out, Sami Aslam 87, Usama Mir 24; Bilal Asif 4-84, Raza Hasan 3-77, Altaf Ahmed 2-46).

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: SNGPL beat Wapda by six wickets.

WAPDA 305 in 83 overs (Aamir Sajjad 88, Khushdil Shah 53, Bismillah Khan 46, Khalid Usman 33, Adnan Raees 26; Asad Ali 3-54, Bilawal Bhatti 3-83) and 117 in 44.2 overs (Mohammad Saad 46, Zahid Mansoor 31, Aamir Sajjad 25; Mohammad Abbas 6-24, Asad Ali 3-16); SNGPL 296 in 97.5 overs (Asad Shafiq 53, Ali Waqas 47, Imran Khalid 44, Khurram Shehzad 42, Mohammad Rizwan 34, Adnan Akmal 29; Khalid Usman 6-93, Syed Hasnain Bukhari 2-64) and 129-4 in 28 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 51, Asad Shafiq 28 not out; Syed Hasnain Bukhari 2-60).

Group ‘B’:

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: Match drawn.

LAHORE WHITES 104 in 33.3 overs (Mohammad Mohsin 35, Fahad-ul-Haq 35; Anwar Ali 6-40, Khurram Shahzad 2-32) and 144-4 in 63 overs (Usman Salahuddin 59 not out, Fahad-ul-Haq 35, Mohammad Waqas 33 not out; Khurram Shahzad 2-23); KARACHI WHITES 79 in 25.5 overs (Faisal Iqbal 32 not out; Waqas Ahmed 6-37, Mohammad Irfan 2-16) — no play in Thursday due to foggy weather conditions.

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: UBL beat HBL by 142 runs.

UBL 178 in 47.4 overs (Saad Ali 44, Sohaib Maqsood 29, Akbar-ur-Rehman 26; Umar Gul 5-53, Junaid Khan 3-54) and 309 in 68.5 overs (Umar Akmal 116, Hammad Azam 75 not out, Saad Ali 26; Ammad Butt 4-48, Ramiz Aziz 3-56, Umar Gul 2-72); HBL 125 in 46.4 overs (Azeem Ghumman 24; Ehsan Adil 4-29, Sadaif Mehdi 2-41, Sohail Khan 2-43) and220 in 61.2 overs (Azeem Ghumman 69, Imran Farhat 68; Sohail Khan 5-55, Ehsan Adil 2-50, Hammad Azam 2-51).

Final standings

(Tabulated under: played, won, lost, drawn, points):

Group ‘A’

SNGPL 7 6 0 1 51

SSGC 7 4 1 2 43

Lahore Blues 7 4 3 0 34

Wapda 7 4 2 1 33

Peshawar 7 3 4 0 29

Islamabad 7 1 4 2 12

NBP 7 1 4 2 12

Faisalabad 7 0 6 1 1

Group ‘B’

UBL 7 6 1 0 57

HBL 7 5 2 0 46

KRL 7 4 2 1 33

Lahore Whites 7 3 2 2 33

Rawalpindi 7 3 4 0 24

Karachi Whites 7 2 4 1 18

PTV 7 1 5 1 12

Fata 7 1 5 1 9

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2017