KARACHI: Central Punjab put up a clinical three-day show at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Monday to become the first side to record an outright victory in the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as Northern were humiliated by an innings and 100 runs on the penultimate day of the four-day match.

Balochistan could join in securing a win after forcing Southern Punjab to follow on in their second-round fixture at the Bugti Stadium in Quetta, while the game involving Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa seems destined for a predictable stalemate at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi after Ashfaq Ahmed excelled with a second consecutive century.

After being bundled out for a paltry 114 in their first innings just before stumps on Sunday while replying to Central Punjab’s 433, Northern were desperately in search of a miracle to avert defeat as they started their second innings with a deficit of 319.

But the visitors only managed to survive 66.3 overs in which they reached 219 all out with none of their batsmen able to score a half century in either innings. The top-scorer in the second innings was discarded Pakistan all-rounder Hammad Azam, who contributed a 52-ball 38 (six boundaries) before becoming one of four wickets for Test off-spinner Bilal Asif.

Young opener Haider Ali was the only Northern batsman to surpass 30. He scored a patient 33 from 116 balls.

While Bilal snared 4-57 in 18.3 overs with slow left-armer Zafar Gohar picking up three wickets for 87 runs in 24 overs.

Apart from garnering 16 points for winning, Central Punjab also bagged eight bonus points — five batting and three bowling points — to sit at the top of the six-team standings with 35 points.

Southern Punjab fell 192 runs behind Balochistan’s total of 500-9 declared when they were dismissed for 308 after having started day three at 161-3. They lost Umar Siddique (67) without addition to the overnight tally but Umar’s fellow left-handed partner Imran Rafiq duly completed a defiant hundred before being left stranded on 110 (239 balls, 19 boundaries).

Bilawal Bhatti used the long handle to good effect as he hit 11 fours in making 57 from 91 deliveries while putting on 92 for the seventh wicket with Imran. But after he got out, the remaining wickets also fell quickly.

Batting again, Southern Punjab went to stumps at 132-3, losing all the wickets in the space of 13 runs after skipper Shan Masood (45) and Sami Aslam (37) added 84 during their opening stand. Both fell to Test leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa rode on a fifth-wicket partnership of 97 between Ashfaq (113 off 257 balls, 15 fours) and all-rounder Zohaib Khan, who is batting with 70 (149 balls, seven boundaries) while extending their overnight score from 97-2 to 276-6 when play ended for the day ended prematurely at 4:37pm because of bad light, which was followed by rain.

Despite losing Adil Amin (70) early in the morning, Ashfaq, who resumed on 28, bated with composure to register three figures that came on the back of his innings of 106 against Northern last week. Ashfaq was trapped in front by paceman Tabish Khan after batting for 399 minutes.

Slow left-armer Kashif Bhatti claimed three wickets for 99 runs in 40 overs with Tabish taking 2-65 in 27 overs.

Close of play scores and result on Monday (day three of four):

Second round:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: SINDH 476-9 declared in 148.5 overs (Omair Bin Yousuf 174, Fawad Alam 100 not out, Asad Shafiq 81, Khurram Manzoor 40, Saud Shakeel 25; Adil Amin 5-81, Sameen Gul 3-50); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 296-6 in 107 overs (Ashfaq Ahmed 113, Zohaib Khan 70 not out, Adil Amin 70, Umar Khan 21 not out; Kashif Bhatti 3-99).

At Bugti Stadium, Quetta: BALOCHISTAN 500-9 declared in 130.5 overs (Azeem Ghumman 163, Imran Farhat 117, Imran Butt 66, Amad Butt 54, Bismillah Khan 32, Yasir Shah 31; Mohammad Irfan 5-131, Bilawal Bhatti 2-104); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 308 in 94.4 overs (Imran Rafiq 110 not out, Umar Siddique 67, Bilawal Bhatti 57, Aamir Yamin 23, Sami Aslam 20; Mohammad Asghar 3-41, Umar Gul 2-31, Taj Wali 2-50, Yasir Shah 2-126) and 132-3 in 33 overs (Shan Masood 45, Sami Aslam 37, Umar Siddique 26 not out; Yasir Shah 2-46).

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: Central Punjab beat Northern by an innings and 100 runs.

CENTRAL PUNJAB 433 in 107.5 overs (Kamran Akmal 157, Azhar Ali 155, Saad Nasim 31, Rizwan Hussain 30, Salman Butt 22; Nauman Ali 4-104, Musa Khan 3-78, Raza Hasan 2-94); NORTHERN 114 in 60.3 overs (Raza Hasan 20; Zafar Gohar 4-36, Ehsan Adil 3-15, Bilal Asif 2-13) and 219 in 66.3 overs (Hammad Azam 38, Haider Ali 33, Waqas Ahmed 28, Rohail Nazir 27, Musa Khan 27 not out, Nauman Ali 26; Bilal Asif 4-57, Zafar Gohar 3-87, Ehsan Adil 2-15).

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2019