KARACHI: Inspired by a brilliant century from Saad Ali, State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) qualified for the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II cricket tournament semi-finals with an innings and 78-run thrashing of Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The pool ‘C’ fixture at the Diamond Club Ground lasted less than two days. SBP declared at 368-6 after resuming at 161-3 in reply to PAF’s miserly first-innings tally of 116.

Saad, the Pakistan left-hander, dominated the overnight fourth-wicket partnership of 195 with skipper Usman Salahuddin while extending his score from 46 to 128. His 134-ball knock included 23 boundaries.

Usman contributed 73 off 122 balls with 10 hits to the fence while left-handed Naved Yasin scored an undefeated 56 with his 51-ball contribution featuring five fours and three sixes.

Starting their second innings with a deficit of 252, PAF crumbled under pressure for 174 with Pakistan slow left-armer Mohammad Nawaz picking up four wickets for 41 runs in 20 overs and paceman Basit Ali three for 47.

By taking 10 points — including one for the innings victory — SBP’s first success not only lifted themselves to top spot in the group with 16 points but also secured them a last-four berth.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) also completed a two-day win — their first in pool ‘B’ — when they trounced CandyLand by innings and 139 runs at the Rana Naved-ul-Hasan Academy in Sheikhupura.

After carrying their Monday’s score of 146-1 to a massive 475-6 in the stipulated first-innings quota of 83 overs, HEC bowlers led by slow left-armer Sajid Khan (5-22) shot out CandyLand for a measly 86 in the second innings.

Opener Fahad Usman was HEC’s star performer as he hammered a scintillating 169 from only 160 deliveries while striking 22 boundaries. Skipper Asfand Mehran struck a 106 90 (eight fours), while there were half-centuries for Sharoon Siraj (58) and Kamran Afzal (50 not out) as well.

The HEC have temporarily taken charge of this group with 16 points at the top but Ghani Glass — who have nine points at present — could pass them if they manage to beat the Port Qasim Authority (PQA) outright in the pool ‘B’ fixture at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

By Tuesday evening, Ghani Glass had reached 68-2 after grabbing a significant lead of 132 on the first innings by restricting PQA to 267 with slow left-armer Ali Usman snaring five wickets for 84 runs in 34.3 overs.

Meanwhile, Omar Associates’ semi-final aspirations were dented in the pool ‘A’ clash as the current leaders conceded a first-innings lead of 76 to Navy who collected 270 after resuming play at the NBP Sports Complex at 64-3.

By close of play Omar Associates were struggling at 92-4 in their second turn at the crease. If Navy emerge victorious on Wednesday’s third and final day, they will overtake Omar Associates in the final standings.

Second-placed Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) are also well-placed to make the last-four phase of the competition after dominating Haideri Traders in the other pool ‘A’ encounter at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi.

After taking a handy lead of 69 by bowling Haideri Traders for 157 with the inspiration being provided by slow left-armer Mirza Ahsan Jamil who claimed two more wickets on Tuesday to finish with magnificent analysis of 8-75 in 20.1 overs.

The CAA then declared their second innings at 280-9 with captain Akbar Badshah scoring an unbeaten 111 (166 balls, 14 boundaries) before reducing Haideri Traders to 42-1 after setting a daunting target of 350.

Sabir’s Poultry dramatically improved hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals from Pool ‘D’ after reaching 182-2 while chasing 236 against Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at the LCCA Ground in Lahore.

Close of play scores and results on Tuesday (day two of three):

Third round:

Pool ‘A’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY 226 in 52.3 overs (Ashar Qureshi 70, Ashfaq Ahmed 29, Shahid Nawaz 26; Jalat Khan 6-62, Mohammad Ibrahim 3-47) and 280-9 declared in 78 overs (Akbar Badshah 111 not out, Mohammad Asim 31, Ashfaq Ahmed 27; Jalat Khan 4-110, Mustafa Naqvi 3-39); HAIDERI TRADERS 157 in 51.1 overs (Mohammad Usman 35, Momin Waqar 24, Jalat Khan 22; Mirza Ahsan Jamil 8-75, Ashar Qureshi 2-19) and 42-1 in 10 overs (Momin Waqar 26 not out).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: OMAR ASSOCIATES 194 in 69 overs (Fahaddis Bukhari 68, Arsalan Bashir 44; Fawad Khan 5-68, Raza-ul-Hasan 3-45) and 92-4 in 33 overs (Arsalan Bashir 40; Fawad Khan 3-25); NAVY 270-9 in 83 overs (Wasim Ahmed 65, Hamza Ghanchi 50, Nasir Owais 50, Latif Junejo 31, Hafiz Asad Baig 27; Mohammad Irfan Sr 4-102, Ulfat Shah 3-29).

Pool ‘B’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: GHANI GLASS 399-9 in 83 overs (Zeeshan Ashraf 94, Tayyab Tahir 91, Shahbaz Javed 60, Yousuf Babar 51, Haris Nazar 31 not out, Irfan Liaquat 27; Tanvir Ahmed 4-57, Azam Hussain 4-113) and 68-2 in 11 overs (Zeeshan Ashraf 43 not out, Haris Nazar 20 not out; PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 267 in 81.3 overs (Atif Ali Zaidi 77, Daniyal Ahsan 57, Mudassar Riaz 46, Jahanzaib Naved 39; Ali Usman 5-84, Mohammad Waheed 3-80)

At Rana Naved-ul-Hasan Academy, Sheikhupura: Higher Education Commission beat CandyLand by an innings and 139 runs.

CANDYLAND 250 in 63.1 overs (Tayyab Riaz 83, Babar Ali 61 not out, Fawadullah 22; Asfand Mehran 5-63, Fahad Usman 2-20) and 86 in 26.4 overs (Jibran Khan 23, Tayyab Riaz 22; Sajid Khan 5-22, Kamran Afzal 2-8) HIGHER EDUCATION COMMISSION 475-6 in 83 overs (Fahad Usman 169, Asfand Mehran 90, Sharoon Siraj 58, Kamran Afzal 50 not out, Arsalan Zia 43, Haseeb-ur-Rehman 22; Fawadullah 2-83, Mirza Bilal Baig 2-101).

Pool ‘C’:

At Army Cricket Ground, Rawalpindi: ARMY 200 in 63.4 overs (Shoaib Khan 82, Haseeb-ur-Rehman 43, Hamza Arshad 28; Tahir Khan 5-62) and 147-5 in 36 overs (Mohammad Fahad 47 not out, Hamza Khan 37, Shoaib Khan 25 not out, Mohammad Naveed 24; Tahir Khan 4-56); PAKISTAN INTERNATIONAL AIRLINES 356 in 77.2 overs (Shoaib Khan 81, Anop Ravi 62, Fahad Iqbal 51, Shahzar Mohammad 34, Hanif Azad 31, Maeez Viqar 29; Musab Shahzaib 4-80, Hamza Khan 2-53, Umair Khan 2-65).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: State Bank beat Pakistan Air Force by an innings and 78 runs.

PAKISTAN AIR FORCE 116 in 39.5 overs (Ali Malik 30; Mohammad Ilyas 4-41, Hamza Nadeem 3-11, Mohammad Nawaz 2-11) and 174 in 50.2 overs (Ali Malik 35, Salman Chaudhry 29, Umair Masood 23, Awais Iqbal 20, Zeeshan Malik 20; Mohammad Nawaz 4-41, Basit Khan 3-47 STATE BANK 368-7 declared in 65 overs (Saad Ali 128, Usman Salahuddin 73, Naved Yasin 56, Rizwan Hussain 28, Israrullah 21, Mohammad Nawaz 20; Mohammad Shahzad 3-47, Awais Iqbal 2-76).

Pool ‘D’:

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: KARACHI PORT TRUST 150 in 37.2 overs (Shah Ali Zafar 91; Ghulam Rehman 5-49, Asif Fawad 2-14, Nisar Ahmed 2-61) and 169 in 48 overs (Anas Mahmood 46, Husban Javed 23, Babar Rehman 21, Ahmed Iqbal 20; Nisar Ahmed 4-72, Ghulam Rehman 2-45, Manzoor Khan 2-23); SABIR’S POULTRY 84 in 27.3 overs (Imran Nazir 32; Babar Rehman 4-20, Husban Javed 4-28, Khalid Mahmood 2-36) and 182-2 in 50 overs (Hashim Ibrahim 71 not out, Imran Dogar 58, Ali Zaryab 38 not out).

At Railways Stadium, Lahore: K-ELECTRIC 295 in 58.1 overs (Nasir Nawaz 95, Umair Bin Yousuf 68, Jahanzaib Sultan 47; Hamza Nazar 5-88, Mohammad Rameez 3-66, Abdul Rauf 2-53) and 130-4 in 25 overs (Bahadur Khan 55 not out, Mohammad Afzal 36 not out, Umair Bin Yousuf 23; Abdul Rauf 3-30); RAILWAYS 309-9 in 83 overs (Ahsan Bhatti 78, Mohammad Waqas 61, Ameer Hamza 43 not out, Hasan Sardar 39, Zain-ul-Hasnain 29, Mohsin Pervez 20; Asad Raza 4-75, Sajid Khan 3-52).

Published in Dawn, April 24th, 2019