KARACHI: What should have been a good tussle between bat and ball turned into an anticlimax as United Bank Limited (UBL) casually strolled into the final of the One-day Departmental Cup by handing Sui Southern Gas Company a demoralising defeat here on Thursday.

On a largely mind-numbing overcast day at the NBP Sports Complex, the first semi-final failed to provide the spills and thrills normally associated with a knockout fixture.

And despite the funereal pace of proceedings, Shan Masood, yet again, warmed up to the task admirably to extend his red-hot form with a third century in the ongoing competition before UBL romped home by seven wickets.

The Test opener serenely brought up his seventh one-day ton in 63 appearances, while taking his tournament aggregate to a staggering 573 runs at an astronomical average of 191 after finishing on an even 100 — from 101 balls with 13 boundaries — this time as UBL smoothly racked up 239-3 to send SSGC packing with 55 deliveries to spare when Saad Ali hit the winning boundary with an elegant cover drive off Umar Amin.

The game started seven minutes late owing to 11th-hour arrangements by the Pakistan Television (PTV) to set up the cameras at focal locations to cover the semi-final live, Younis Khan’s charges hardly allowed SSGC to score at will. The departure of skipper Umar Amin for a duck to Mir Hamza in the third over of the morning was a huge setback from which SSGC never recovered.

And even though Sami Aslam (57 off 63 balls, nine fours) and fellow left-hander Awais Zia (48 off 61, five fours and a six) added 88 in 105 balls, UBL generally controlled play in the field as Younis marshalled his troops like a general who meant business from the time he opted to bowl first at the toss.

Asif Zakir struck a brace of sixes and as many fours in making 41 from 58 balls but the rest disappointed till the end of the insipid first half as SSGC folded up for 235 in 49.1 overs. The pace and spin quartet of Mir Hamza, Sameen Gul, Mohammad Asghar and Ashiq Ali all chipped in with a couple of wickets apiece while the fielding backed them to the hilt.

Requiring to get the runs at 4.72 per over, UBL got the chase underway briskly as the left-handed partnership of Shan and Umar Siddique (21) added 51 when the latter was run out while attempting an unnecessary single that never existed.

Umar Akmal (12) came and went without a trace. The discarded Pakistan right-hander virtually got himself yorked when his feet went astray while attempting, rather halfheartedly, to meet a full delivery from fast bowler Ahmed Jamal.

Sohaib Maqsood then arrived to share a third-wicket stand worth 139 from 152 balls with Shan. A fifth List-A hundred was there for the taking but Sohaib’s mind was elsewhere when another rush of recklessness caused his demise as Fawad extracted sweet revenge for being clobbered for a massive six in the direction of the flyover at the far end of the ground.

Watched by a small turnout, which included former Pakistan Test captain Mushtaq Mohammad who is here on holidays from Birmingham, Sohaib was stumped off Fawad for a 94-ball 89 that included 10 boundaries and two sixes.

But Shan was not giving up at all even without his favourite bat — which was sent for some minor repairs — in his hands as he took his total of runs to 1,142 from 26 innings across all formats with an average of 60.10 during the domestic season.

UBL, whose latest victory was their eighth on the trot since the event started on Dec 28, will have two full days to regroup before playing hosts to either Wapda or PTV — who clash in the second semi-final at the same venue on Friday — in Sunday’s title-deciding match at the UBL Sports Complex.

Scoreboard

SSGC:

Sami Aslam run out 57

Umar Amin lbw b Hamza 0

Awais Zia b Ashiq 48

Asif Zakir b Hammad 41

Fawad Alam c Hamza b Sameen 12

Adil Amin b Ashiq 21

Kashif Bhatti lbw b Asghar 11

Saifullah Khan Bangash not out 15

Usama Mir c Ashiq b Asghar 0

Ahmed Jamal c Sameen b Asghar 18

Zia-ul-Haq b Sameen 5

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-1, W-3, NB-1) 7

TOTAL (all out 49.1 overs) 235

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-101, 3-119, 4-154, 5-165, 6-185, 7-199, 8-200, 9-229.

BOWLING: Mir Hamza 10-0-55-2; Sameen Gul 8.1-0-41-2 (1nb, 1w); Mohammad Asghar 10-0-34-2 (1w); Hammad Azam 9-0-35-1; Ashiq Ali 10-0-56-2; Sohaib Maqsood 2-0-11-0.

UBL:

Shan Masood not out 100

Umar Siddique run out 21

Umar Akmal b Ahmed 12

Sohaib Maqsood st Saif b Fawad 89

Saad Ali not out 13

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3) 4

TOTAL (for three wkts, 40.5 overs) 239

FALL OF WKTS: 1-51, 2-65, 3-204.

DID NOT BAT: Younis Khan, Hammad Azam, Ashiq Ali, Mohammad Asghar, Mir Hamza, Sameen Gul.

BOWLING: Adil Amin 4-0-26-0 (1w); Zia-ul-Haq 4-0-24-0; Ahmed Jamal 8-0-54-1 (2w); Kashif Bhatti 8-0-39-0; Usama Mir 6-0-40-0; Fawad Alam 10-0-44-1; Umar Amin 0.5-0-11-0.

RESULT: UBL won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahmed Shahab and Khalid Mahmood.

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob.

MATCH REFEREE: Aleem Moosa.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Obaid Ahmed.

SECOND SEMI-FINAL: Wapda vs PTV (NBP Sports Complex, on Friday, 9:30am).

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2018