KARACHI: Faisalabad Wolves, inspired by a maiden Imran Ali century, pulled off a remarkable five-wicket win in their Silver League fixture against Sialkot Stallions in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Saturday.
The 26-year-old Imran, playing just his sixth first-class match, finished on an unconquered 182 in a marathon stay of 461 minutes during which he negotiated 324 balls and hit 26 boundaries to mastermind the Wolves’ tremendous run-chase at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot where they began the fourth and final day at 141-2 while still requiring exactly 300 to reach an impossible 441 to chalk up their first success this season.
But Imran somehow kept going to steer his side home. He was greatly aided by Waqas Wasif (69 off 112 balls, seven fours and one six) in a third-wicket partnership of 141 and then by Raheel Ameer (72 off 110, nine fours and one six) in a stand that yielded 137 for the fourth wicket.
Skipper Fahim Ashraf (41 off 28, four boundaries and two sixes) completed the last rites in an unfinished partnership of 68 with Imran.
Slow left-armer Aslam Sattar took a career-best 6-44 to help Hyderabad Hawks beat Quetta Bears by 21 runs at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.
SSGC also celebrated by ending the unbeaten run of Group-II leaders Habib Bank with a 26-run success at the National Cricket Ground in Islamabad, while PIA beat KRL by four wickets at the latter’s home ground in Rawalpindi to confirm taking the top slot in Group-I.
Scores and results on Saturday (final day of four):
Group-I:
At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: Hyderabad Hawks beat Quetta Bears by 21 runs.
HYDERABAD HAWKS 196 in 65 overs (Mohammad Saddam 41, Faisal Athar 38, Lal Kumar 35; Arun Lal 4-51, Jalat Khan 3-31, Sher Ali 3-31) and 160 in 56.2 overs (Mir Ali Talpur 46, Zeeshan Gul 35; Nazar Hussain 9-60); QUETTA BEARS 180 in 77.4 overs (Rameez Raja 35, Jalat Khan 33; Nasir Awais 4-58, Babar Khan 3-47, Mir Ali Talpur 2-17) and 155 in 69.5 overs (Shahbaz Khan 61, Rameez Raja 32; Aslam Sattar 6-44, Babar Khan 3-55).
At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: PIA beat KRL by four wickets.
KRL 107 in 39.4 overs (Saeed Anwar Jr 32; Ali Imran Pasha 6-45, Aizaz Cheema 2-21) and 337 in 109 overs (Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 66, Luqman Butt 59, Ali Khan 33; Ali Imran Pasha 4-77, Tahir Khan 4-115); PIA 241 in 87.4 overs (Tahir Khan 62 not out, Faisal Iqbal 48, Kamran Sajid 38, Shoaib Khan 34; Nauman Ali 5-74, Saeed Anwar Jr 2-31) and 204-6 in 73.5 overs (Fahad Iqbal 38, Shaharyar Ghani 36 not out, Faisal Iqbal 35, Tahir Khan 35; Sadaf Hussain 3-70, Saeed Anwar Jr 2-17).
Group-II:
At Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur: Match drawn.
ABBOTTABAD FALCONS 383 in 123.1 overs (Waqar Orakzai 110, Nasir Khan 75, Khalilullah 56, Zubair Ali 43, Imran Shah 40; Ahmed Raza 7-92, Zahir Siddiqui 2-96) ad 238-8 in 87 overs (Waqar Orakzai 86, Mohammad Ali 50, Sohail Akhtar 32; Imranullah Aslam 5-81, Ansar Javed 2-18); BAHAWALPUR STAGS 529 in 143.4 overs (Imranullah 127, Faisal Mubashir 127, Bilal Khilji 114,Adeel Basit 81; Inam Khan 4-149, Aamir Shahzad 4-116).
At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: Faisalabad Wolves beat Sialkot Stallions by five wickets.
SIALKOT STALLIONS 210 in 52.1 overs (Faisal Khan 48, Waqas Ahmed 43; Naseer Akram 4-73, Fahim Ashraf 4-67) and 384 in 89 overs (Bilal Hussain 157, Atiq-ur-Rehman 62, Ahmer Butt 46, Salman Cheema 32; Naseer Akram 5-102, Fahim Ashraf 3-118); FAISALABAD WOLVES 154 in 59.2 overs (Waqas Ahmed 4-62, Hasan Ali 3-57, Bilal Asif 2-10) and 444-5 in 106.5 overs ( Imran Ali 182 not out, Raheel Ameer 72, Waqas Wasif 69, Fahim Ashraf 41 not out; Hasan Ali 3-191) .
At National Cricket Ground, Islamabad: SSGC beat Habib Bank by 26 runs.
SSGC 152 in 47.3 overs (Haris Ali 34, Asif Zakir 32; Fahad Masood 4-45, Sarmad Anwar 4-51, Aslam Qureshi 2-13) and 288 in 82.4 overs (Mohammad Waqas 140, Saifullah Khan Bangash 39; Sarmad Anwar 3-101, Aslam Qureshi 2-23, Fahad Masood 2-51); HABIB BANK 112 in 41 overs (Humayun Farhat 31; Tabish Khan 7-39, Nasir Malik 3-55) and 302 in 86.4 overs (Kamran Hussain 70, Imran Farhat 50, Rameez Aziz 42, Humayun Farhat 41; Adnan Ghaus 4-92, Tabish Khan 2-66).
Published in Dawn, November 16th , 2014