KARACHI, Nov 14: The North West Frontier Province (NWFP) scored their third successive three-day victory in the RBS Pentangular Cup when they annihilated holders Sindh by an innings and 85 runs at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar on Friday.

The outcome of this fourth-round fixture meant that Sindh’s campaign in the tournament is also over after finishing the league phase with two defeats and two draws.

The NWFP, meanwhile, booked their place in the Nov 24-28 final in Lahore with maximum 27 points after outplaying Balochistan, Federal Areas and Sindh by comprehensive margins.

After extending their first-innings lead to 222 on the penultimate day of the four-day match when they were all out for 318, the NWFP skittled out Sindh for 137 in their second innings shortly after the lunch-cum-prayers break.

Sindh, who were shot out for 96 in their first innings, didn’t offer much resistance for the second time as pace-men Nauman Habib and Shakeel-ur-Rehman shared the nine wickets taken by the bowlers.

The only exception was Afsar Nawaz, who made a fighting 44 off 60 deliveries until he was the last wicket to fall when he tried to keep the strike and was run out by Riffatullah Mohmand. Afsar’s gallant knock contained six fours and a six.

Nauman, who dismissed Asad Shafiq and Sindh skipper Naumanullah off successive deliveries, ended up with excellent figures five for 45 in

12 overs. Shakeel-ur-Rehman claimed four for 63. Between them, they shared 14 of the 18 wickets falling to the bowlers.

Zulfiqar Jan, who earlier added 10 runs to his overnight score of 32, took eight catches behind the stumps after taking four more in the second innings.

The only bright spot for the beleaguered Sindh side was the performance of their young pace bowler Anwar Ali, who captured five for 95.

Scoreboard

SINDH (1st Innings) 96.

NWFP (1st Innings, overnight 284-7):

Yasir Hameed c Afsar b Anwar 30

Adnan Raees c Faisal b Anwar 10

Riffatullah Mohmand c Sarfraz b Azam 93

Wajid Ali lbw b Anwar 0

Shoaib Khan Sr c Faisal b Sohail 56

Aftab Khan c Sarfraz b Azam 31

Zulfiqar Jan c Sarfraz b Anwar 42

Shakeel-ur-Rehman b Sohail 9

Nauman Habib b Anwar 16

Waqar Ahmed run out 0

Junaid Khan not out 8

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-8, W-2, NB-9) 23

TOTAL (all out, 84.5 overs) 318

FALL OF WKTS: 1-41, 2-55, 3-55, 4-168, 5-234, 6-247, 7-274, 8-306, 9-310.

BOWLING: Sohail Khan 30-5-100-2; Anwar Ali 30.5-5-95-2 (1nb, 1w); Tanvir Ahmed 13-2-74-0 (8nb, 1w); Azam Hussain 11-3-37-2.

SINDH (2nd Innings):

Asad Shafiq c Zulfiqar b Nauman 12

Faisal Athar lbw b Shakeel 15

Naumanullah b Nauman 0

Faisal Iqbal c Aftab b Nauman 21

Rizwan Ahmed lbw b Shakeel 6

Afsar Nawaz run out 44

Sarfraz Ahmed c Zulfiqar b Shakeel 6

Anwar Ali b Nauman 15

Tanvir Ahmed c Zulfiqar b Nauman 4

Azam Hussain c Zulfiqar b Shakeel 10

Sohail Khan not out 2

EXTRAS (W-2) 2

TOTAL (all out, 32 overs) 137

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-17, 3-43, 4-53, 5-55, 6-63, 7-81, 8-93, 9-131.

BOWLING: Waqar Ahmed 4-0-12-0; Nauman Habib 12-2-45-5 (1w); Shakeel-ur-Rehman 12-0-63-4 (1w); Junaid Khan 4-0-17-0.

RESULT: NWFP won by an innings and 85 runs.

UMPIRES: Mian Aslam and Rasheed Bhatti.

MATCH REFEREE: Ishtiaq Ahmed.