KARACHI Blues have all but made it to the Super Eight final of the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship after cruising to a three-day victory over Lahore Shalimar by seven wickets at the LCCA Ground in Lahore on Thursday.

After taking the last five wickets for the addition of 47 runs to dismiss Lahore Shalimar for 299 in their second innings, Karachi Blues romped home by scoring the required 182-run target. Mohammad Wajihuddin, not a regular in the playing XI this season, led the way brilliantly by hammering 17 boundaries in his 112-ball innings of 98. Opener Rameez Raja contributed a handy 45.

The result means Karachi Blues have now won both their fixtures, having already taken care of Hyderabad by 114 runs in their opening Group ‘B’ tie in Mirpur last Sunday. They have the maximum 18 points and are poised to make the Feb 24-28 final as the group winners provided they stay unbeaten against Lahore Ravi and Lahore Shalimar are thwarted by Hyderabad in the last round of matches.

Rawalpindi, who crushed Karachi Whites in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, currently top the Group ‘A’ standings with 12 points.

Former Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik and Zeeshan Mushtaq struck centuries to give Sialkot a vital lead of 74 runs on the first innings against Islamabad in their Group ‘A’ tie at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.

Sialkot captain Malik, who batting on 94 in his team’s tally of 215-5, was out after scoring 114 (205 balls, 14 fours) as the visitors reached 377-8 on a day when only 43.1 overs were bowled because of bad weather.

The sixth-wicket partnership between Malik and Zeeshan, who is batting on 133 (278 balls, 17 fours), yielded 131.

Lahore Ravi also had to overcome poor weather in taking their overnight total of 171-4 to 353-5 in reply to Hyderabad’s massive 584 in the Group ‘B’ game at the National Cricket Ground in Islamabad. Their heroes were opener Sami Aslam and skipper Adnan Akmal who both completed centuries while sharing a monumental stand of 287 after coming together with the Ravians in dire straits at 64-4 on Wednesday afternoon.

Sami, the 17-year-old member of the Pakistan Under-19 squad, scored his maiden first-class hundred as he reached 144 (286 balls, 21 fours and one six), while Adnan surpassed his previous highest score of 120 by remaining undefeated on 149 (246 balls, 23 boundaries) during his fourth first-class ton.

Abbottabad were heading for defeat despite making a gallant fightback against Faisalabad in the Bottom Six Teams Pool ‘A’ fixture as they batted all day to reach 305-8 after resuming their second innings at 46-0 at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Mirpur.

Rameez Ahmed, the top scorer in the innings with 87, again stole the show by hitting an unbeaten 130 (213 balls, 13 fours and two sixes). Abbottabad now hold a lead of just 52 runs heading into Friday’s last day.

In the Pool ‘B’ tie at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan, Quetta were 83-3 after being set a daunting 385-run chase following Bahawalpur’s declaration of their second inning at 275-8.

Close of play scores and result on Thursday (day three of four): Super Eight: At LCCA Ground, Lahore: Karachi Blues beat Lahore Shalimar by seven wickets.

LAHORE SHALIMAR 137 in 34.4 overs (Mohammad Irfan 62 not out, Aizaz Cheema 27; Zohaib Shera 7-42, Tabish Khan 2-36) and 299 in 86.4 overs (Saad Nasim 69, Usman Salahuddin 53, Fahad-ul-Haq 50, Imran Butt 37, Aamir Sajjad 28; Tabish Khan 3-68, Zohaib Shera 2-40, Azam Hussain 2-50); KARACHI BLUES 255 in 62 overs (Fakhar Zaman 101, Rameez Raja 45, Akbar-ur-Rehman 28; Saad Nasim 3-20, Asif Raza 2-43, Zia-ul-Haq 2-52, Aizaz Cheema 2-93) and 182-3 in 34.4 overs (Mohammad Wajihuddin 98, Rameez Raja 45, Akbar-ur-Rehman 28).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ISLAMABAD 303 in 101.3 overs (Raheel Majeed 115, Ali Sarfraz 97, Mohammad Kashif 25; Faisal Rasheed 5-71, Hafiz Majid Jahangir 2-4); SIALKOT 377-8 in 113.4 overs (Zeeshan Mushtaq 133 not out, Shoaib Malik 114, Shakeel Ansar 34, Faisal Rasheed 29; Rao Iftikhar 3-83, Zohaib Ahmed 2-40).

At National Cricket Ground, Islamabad: HYDERABAD 584 in 120.4 overs (Lal Kumar 109,

Azeem Ghumman 107, Rizwan Ahmed 105, Aqeel Anjum 81, Faisal Athar 78, Shoaib Leghari 57; Mohammad Irshad 5-144, Ali Manzoor 2-89); LAHORE RAVI 353-5 in 94.4 overs (Adnan Akmal 149 not out, Sami Aslam 144; Rehan Riaz 3-86, Mir Ali Talpur 2-78).

Bottom Six Teams: At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: BAHAWALPUR 268 in 105.4 overs (Kamran Hussain 123, Hamid Ali 42, Imranullah Aslam 41, Waqas Khan 29; Jalat Khan 4-54, Nazar Hussain 4-61) and 275-8 declared in 69.4 overs (Rehan Rafiq 84. Moinuddin 58, Ansar Javed 38, Aamir Ijaz 37, Hamid Ali 28; Arun Lal 4-65, Nazar Hussain 2-58); QUETTA 159 in 61.3 overs (Shahbaz Khan 30, Ata-ur-Rehman 25; Bilal Khilji 5-23, Ansar Javed 3-53, Kamran Hussain 2-41) and 83-3 in 17.3 overs (Bismillah Khan 52; Kamran Hussain 2-34).

At Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Mirpur: FAISALABAD 453 in 104.5 overs (Khurram Shehzad 136, Mohammad Shahid 96, Mohammad Salman 88, Ammar Mahmood 63, Asif Ali 32; Aziz-ur-Rehman 3-105, Fazle Rabbi 2-39, Riaz Kail 2-56, Mohammad Naeem 2-84); ABBOTTABAD 203 in 44.5 overs (Rameez Ahmed 87, Mir Azam 43, Adnan Raees 30; Samiullah Khan Niazi 5-47, Waqas Maqsood 2-48, Naseer Akram 2-53) and 305-8 in 93 overs (Rameez Ahmed 130 not out, Yasir Hameed 37, Ikramullah Khan 25; Samiullah Khan Niazi 3-65, Khurram Shehzad 2-54, Naseer Akram 2-78).