KARACHI, April 15: Young Saad Ali stroked a fine century to help Group ‘A’ leaders Karachi Electric Supply Company (KESC) seize control of their fourth-round Patron’s Trophy Grade-II fixture against Navy at the UBL Sports Complex here on Monday.

Saad scored 117 from 158 balls with the aid of 14 boundaries as KESC made the sailors pay for their decision to field first after winning the toss by posting 347 on day one of the penultimate-round game. Javed Mansoor weighed in with a breezy 95-ball 85 spiced with eight fours and one six.

Navy were in trouble at 24-2 in their reply at draw of stumps.

Second-placed Sui Southern Gas Company (SSSGC) also enjoyed a good day after left-arm seamer Sadaf Hussain’s six for 37 wrapped up the Pakistan Steel first innings for a measly 111 at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.

By stumps, SSGC, who are six points behind KESC with a tally of 15, had already amassed 295-4 with veteran right-hander Saeed bin Nasir striking nine fours and a brace of sixes in a 97-ball contribution of 81.

Pakistan Television (PTV), inspired by a superlative 174 from Nawaz Ahmed, overwhelmingly dominated the action in the top-of-the-table Group ‘B’ clash against Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at the Army Cricket Ground in Rawalpindi.

Nawaz slammed 20 boundaries during his 158-ball innings as PTV, who are just three points behind KPT with 12 points, piled up a mammoth 446. Zeeshan Mushtaq chipped in with 75 (off 94 balls, seven fours and three sixes).

KPT paceman Babar Rehman followed up his 12-78 against Face Fresh in the last-round tie at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad with five for 94. KPT reached 23-1 when stumps were drawn for the day.

Omar Associates, bidding to make the semi-finals from Group ‘C’ hold slight edge at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Mirpur where leaders Humak Engineering managed a modest first-innings score of 224 after being put into bat by Mansoor Amjad.

The pace duo of Rizwan Akbar and Mohammad Aftab shared the bowling honours with four wickets apiece. Omar Associates, six behind Humak Engineering, in the standings with 15 points, closed at 59-1.

Sayid Paper Mills, the only certain qualifiers for the knockout stage as the outright Group ‘D’ leaders, were sitting pretty after bowling out Khayaban-e-Amin for 168 at the LCCA Ground in Lahore, and reaching 72-2 at stumps.

Close of play scores on Monday (day one of four):

Group ‘A’:

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: SAUDI CRICKET INTERNATIONAL 263 in 82.3 overs (Mohammad Zohaib 46, Waqas Ahmed 42, Mohammad Ahsan 40, Rashid Ali 40; Kaleem Sana 6-43, Yasir Hussain 2-88); PAKISTAN CUSTOMS 27-0 in 5 overs.

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: KARACHI ELECTRIC SUPPLY COMPANY 347 in 82.2 overs (Saad Ali 117, Javed Mansoor 85, Akbar-ur-Rehman 42, Mohammad Waqas 35; Shakeel Ahmed 3-72, Faraz Ahmed 3-87); NAVY 24-2 in 4.4 overs.

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: PAKISTAN STEEL 111 in 33.4 overs (Shoaib Shakeel 25; Sadaf Hussain 6-37, Atif Maqbool 3-33); SUI SOUTHERN GAS COMPANY 295-4 in 55 overs (Saeed bin Nasir 81, Asif Zakir 55, Awais Zia 45, Israrullah 44).

Group ‘B’:

At Army Cricket Ground, Rawalpindi: PAKISTAN TELEVISION 446 in 82.5 overs (Nawaz Ahmed 174, Zeeshan Mushtaq 75, Raheel Majeed 55, Naeem Anjum 50; Babar Rehman 5-94); KARACHI PORT TRUST 23-1 in 4.4 overs.

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY 370-8 in 83 overs (Shoaib Khaliq 86, Kamran Hussain 65 not out, Faizan Riaz 59, Naved Malik 57, Sohail Aftab 31; Taslim Arif 4-91, Mohammad Haris 3-142); FACE FRESH 49-0 in 12 overs.

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: MEDICAM 280 in 71.5 overs (Athar Abid 72, Shahid Ayub 52, Imran Ahmed 46, Tahir Mughal 34; Khadim Jan 5-101, Shahid Khan 3-48); ARMY 41-2 in 16 overs.

Group ‘C’:

At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: PAKISTAN EDUCATION BOARD 222-8 in 83 overs (Awais Iqbal 102, Haq Nawaz 86; Hamza Akbar 57); DOLLAR EAST 46-1 in 13 overs.

At National Cricket Ground, Islamabad: EVACUEE TRUST PROPERTY BOARD 192 in 62.3 overs (Aamir Bajwa 90, Adnan Aslam 30; Aamir Panhwar 6-63); CANDYLAND 221-3 in 37.1 overs (Najam Nisar 132 not out, Mohammad Asif 46, Shahzad Ahmed 37).

At Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Mirpur (Azad and Jammu Kashmir): HUMAK ENGINEERING 224 in 69.1 overs (Azhar Ayub Khan 59, Ahsan Ali Abbasi 55, Adnan Mahmood 35; Mohammad Aftab 4-66, Rizwan Akbar 4-94); OMAR ASSOCIATES 59-1 in 16 overs (Adnan Zaheer 30 not out).

Group ‘D’:

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: KHAYABAN-E-AMIN 168 in 68.4 overs (Mohammad Hafeez 88, Waqar Orakzai 56, Mohammad Imran 46; Salman Ali 4-93, Faisal Virk 3-81); SAYID PAPER MILLS 72-2 in 21.4 overs (Umar Siddique 29 not out).

At Stags Cricket Ground, Lahore: SERVICE INDUSTRIES 240 in 80 overs (Sattar Khan 63, Umair Sharif 53, Bilal Akram 39; Fakhar Abbas 34; Mohammad Adil Shah 5-83, Syed Mahmood Jaffri 4-41); INCOME TAX 16-2 in 10 overs.