KARACHI: Discarded Pakistan all-rounder Hammad Azam grabbed a nine-wicket haul as United Bank Limited (UBL) completed a 67-run victory against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on the penultimate day of their Group-II Super Eight fixture of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship here on Wednesday.

In a pulsating match at the UBL Sports Complex, ball dominated bat almost throughout before the Younis Khan-led UBL earned nine points to put themselves in pole position for a place in the Jan 3-7 final at the National Stadium.

The entire game yielded just 675 runs for the loss of 40 wickets – all of them falling to bowlers – in 224.1 overs before the first round ended almost an hour before stumps on day three.

Remarkably, on a pitch which aided the seamers more than usual, it was upcoming slow left-armer Mohammad Asghar who picked up five wickets in each innings to end up with match figures of 10-100 in 36.4 overs.

UBL, who restarted their second innings at 60-3, added just 43 runs before being dismissed for 103. After speedster Ahmed Jamal took the prized scalp of Younis, caught at square-leg for 20 while trying to flick, Asghar took over to slice through the rest of UBL batting to take a career-best 5-28 in 8.5 overs.

That left NBP needing 224. But their second innings was almost a replica of the first. By the time captain Kamran Akmal and Akbar-ur-Rehman joined hands, they were already in the mire at 58-5 against the three-pronged pace attack of Ehsan Adil, Hammad and Sadaif Mehdi.

For the second time in the match, the normally reliable Fawad Alam fell for a single-digit score. He had reached just seven when an attempted try to hit Hammad through mid-wicket ended in a neat catch for Umair Khan.

Kamran, who had a great time behind the stumps with seven catches and two stumpings, began his innings with a flurry of boundaries. His first scoring shots were all fours in one Sadaif over. But after making 57, the discarded Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman was adjudged LBW by umpire Irfan Dilshan.

Kamran, who scored 57 off 54 balls with nine fours, looked unhappy as he trudged back and gestured to his team-mates that he had hit the ball after Irfan had taken time before raising the finger. However, the young umpire made the right call since Kamran had missed the line of the delivery altogether and instead the bat thudded into his pad just as the ball did.

Akbar, who put on 79 with Kamran, was left stranded on 31 as Hammad polished of the tail swiftly to finish with 5-39 in 16 overs, giving him match analysis of 9-76. Ehsan and Sadaif captured two wickets apiece.

Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) were closing in on a crushing win after reducing Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) to 202-6 in their second innings of the Group-I encounter at the National Stadium.

After SNGPL had lost their remaining three wickets for the addition of only 12 runs to their overnight tally of 337-7, KRL steadily lost wickets to lead by just 61 runs with only four wickets standing.

Usman Arshad batted defiantly to strike 13 fours in a 171-ball 85 before paceman Azizullah had him caught by Mohammad Hafeez. Wicket-keeper/batsman Ali Nadeem was only other KRL player to offer fight with 55 (103 balls, nine fours).

Seamer Asad Ali, who played four ODIs in 2013, bowled superbly to claim 5-40.

Karachi Whites restricted Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) to a first-innings of only 42 runs by dismissing the latter for 311 in the Group-II tie at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.

Asif Zakir was standout performer for SSGC with 107 (191 balls, 17 boundaries) as and Awais Zia (86 off 131, 11 fours and one six) added 151 for the fifth wicket, while paceman Adeel Malik took 5-101.

Mohammad Waqas then slammed an undefeated 103 (131 balls, 14 fours) to help Karachi Whites collected 188-3 to lead by 146 at stumps. Skipper Faisal Iqbal was batting with 48.

Wapda plodded their way to a sluggish 228-7 in reply to Lahore Blues’ imposing 511 in the Group-I fixture at the NBP Sports Complex.

Resuming at 17-1, Wapda adopted a defensive approach as they mustered 211 runs in 86 overs of tedious batting.

Meanwhile, teams and officials at all four venues observed a two-minute silence and offered Fateha for those who embraced martyrdom in the dastardly terror attack on the Army Public School in Peshawar last year before start of the play on Wednesday.

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

Super Eight:

First round:

Group-I:

At National Stadium, Karachi: KHAN RESEARCH LABORATORIES 208 in 60 overs (Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 77, Luqman Butt 60, Rahat Ali 26; Imran Khalid 4-41, Asad Ali 3-39, Bilawal Bhatti 2-42) and 202-6 in 68 overs (Usman Arshad 85, Ali Nadeem 55, Zain Abbas 27 not out; Asad Ali 5-40); SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPELINES LIMITED 349 in 113 overs (Naeemuddin 108 not out, Umar Akmal 66, Imran Khalid 44, Bilawal Bhatti 35, Azhar Ali 23; Sadaf Hussain 4-85, Rahat Ali 3-84, Mohammad Abbas 2-79).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: LAHORE BLUES 511 in 159.3 overs (Raza Ali Dar 133, Agha Salman 115, Haris Nazar 103, Bilawal Iqbal 53, Farhan Khan 43; Naseer Akram 4-103, Haziq Habibullah 2-115, Zulfiqar Babar 2-140); WATER AND POWER DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 228-7 in 100 overs (Mohammad Saad 56, Zahid Mansoor 51, Adnan Raees 41, Aamir Sajjad 31; Aizaz Cheema 3-31, Haider Ali 3-41).

Group-II:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: United Bank Limited beat National Bank of Pakistan by 67 runs.

UNITED BANK LIMITED 268 in 96.5 overs (Younis Khan 85, Umar Siddique 60, Hammad Azam 31; Mohammad Asghar 5-72, Ahmed Jamal 3-52) and 103 in 38.5 overs (Umair Khan 30, Younis Khan 20; Mohammad Asghar 5-28, Ahmed Jamal 2-26, Ataullah 2-27); NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN 148 in 47 overs (Fahim Ashraf 44, Akbar-ur-Rehman 33, Qaiser Abbas 25; Hammad Azam 4-37, Ehsan Adil 4-43) and 156 in 41.3 overs (Kamran Akmal 57, Akbar-ur-Rehman 31 not out; Hammad Azam 5-39, Ehsan Adil 2-44, Sadaif Mehdi 2-50).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: KARACHI WHITES 269 in 99 overs (Jaahid Ali 74, Saud Shakeel 67 not out, Saad Ali 48, Faisal Iqbal 20; Adnan Ghaus 6-72, Rajesh Ramesh 4-65) and 188-3 in 45 overs (Mohammad Waqas 103 not out, Faisal Iqbal 48 not out; Tabish Khan 2-59); SUI SOUTHERN GAS COMPANY 311 in 102.1 overs (Asif Zakir 107, Awais Zia 86, Umar Amin 30, Tabish khan 27; Adeel Malik 5-101, Abdullah Muqaddam 2-57, Ghulam Mudassar 2-79).

Published in Dawn, December 17th, 2015