LAHORE, Dec 25: A fine century by Naved Latif and later good bowling by Wahab Riaz and Uzair-ul-Haq powered National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) into a strong position against Sialkot on the second day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy replay fixture at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

The bankers, who need to win back-to-back matches to keep alive their hopes of reaching the final, made a perfect start when Naved helped the bankers to a first-innings total of 344 after resuming at 256-6. He struck 15 boundaries and two sixes before he was caught by Adeel Malik off Mohammad Ali for exactly 100.

Paceman Mohammad Ali finished with 4-96.

By close of play, Sialkot were struggling at 163-6 with pacers Wahab and Uzair taking three wickets each.

Only a stubborn 56 by Haris Sohail and 43 from opener Kamran Younis gave some respectability to the total.

Summarised scores:

NATIONAL BANK 344 (Naved Latif 100, Rashid Riaz 48; Mohammad Ali 4-96); SIALKOT 163-6 (Haris Sohail 56 not out, Kamran Younis 43; Wahab Riaz 3-44, Uzair-ul-Haq 3-53).