LAHORE, April 19: A timely century by Test reject Yasir Hameed brought PIA close to a possible victory against National Bank in the Pentangular Cup match at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.

Yasir slammed 101 off 183 balls as PIA declared their second innings at 339 for eight to set a stiff target of 375 for the bankers.

The right-handed Yasir hit 11 boundaries in a splendid knock after PIA resumed the day 86 for no wicket.

Agha Sabir and Kamran Sajid also played good innings with each contributing 52.

Yasir and Kamran put on 130 runs for the third wicket which helped PIA to declare the innings despite a late-order collapse.

At stumps, National Bank's problems were further compounded as they lost two wickets for 58 runs, both to paceman Umar Gul.

Scoreboard

PIA (1st Innings) 242 (Ghulam Ali 124; Wasim Khan 5-67).

NATIONAL BANK (1st Innings) 207 (Mohammad Sami 45; Umar Gul 4-64).

PIA (2nd Innings, overnight 86-0):

Agha Sabir not out c Naeem b Wasim 52

Ghulam Ali not out lbw b Yasir 39

Yasir Hameed c sub b Mansoor 101

Kamran Sajid c Nauman b Imran 52

Imran Abbas c Nauman b Mansoor 22

Mahmood Hamid c Wasim b Shahid 17

Janisar Khan c Nasir b Shahid 1

Umar Gul c Wasim b Imran 29

Abdur Rauf not out 6

EXTRAS (B-10, LB-2, W-3, NB-5) 20

TOTAL (for eight wkts decl, 97.5 overs) 339

FALL OF WKTS: 1-44, 2-116, 3-246, 4-258, 5-291, 6-297, 7-299, 8-339.

BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 19-4-44-0 (2nb); Wasim Khan 16-4-47-1 (3w); Imran Javed 18.5-3-79-2 (3w); Yasir Arafat 14-6-26-1; Mansoor Amjad 24-1-104-2 (3nb); Salman Butt 2-0-5-0; Shahid Yousuf 4-0-22-2.

NATIONAL BANK (2nd Innings):

Salman Butt c Kamran b Umar 16

Nasir Jamshed not out 23

Naumanullah lbw b Umar 8

Faisal Athar not out 1

EXTRAS (B-5, W-5) 10

TOTAL (for two wkts, 14 overs) 58

FALL OF WKTS; 1-30, 2-33.

BOWLING (to-date): Fazle Akbar 6-1-21-0 (5w); Umar Gul 7-0-30-2; Najaf Shah 1-0-2-0.