KARACHI: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) clinched the Gold League title of the Haier Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Friday after their bid for an outright win against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) was thwarted by a maiden century from Raza Hasan.

Until Raza took the responsibility on his young shoulders, SNGPL looked well on course to end their brilliant campaign in the championship with another success.

But Raza chanced his arms to good effect smashing 123 that swelled NBP’s second-innings total to 508 all out on the fifth and final day on a National Stadium track played true.

Once it became clear that NBP won’t be disgraced, the remaining two hours of action was reduced to a farcical formality with nothing else to gain except personal glory. Raza’s was the last wicket to fall in a match that yielded 1,321 runs for the loss of 30 wickets in 437.1 overs.

NBP could have infused some life into the match by declaring once Raza had reached his century. By then they were already in front by 166 runs with 29 overs available to pull off what might have been a miraculous result in their favour.

Having won both editions of the President’s Trophy in the previous two seasons, SNGPL completed a hat-trick of first-class titles by annexing their fifth major crown for which they pocketed Rs2.5 million and the glittering trophy from chief guest Salahuddin Ahmed Sallu, adviser to PCB chairman for the southern region. NBP received Rs1.5 million and the runners-up trophy.

Among the individual awards, Mohammad Rizwan’s brilliant 224 in SNGPL’s first innings fetched him the Rs50,000 man-of-the-match. His team-mate Naeemuddin bagged the best batsman prize for being the only player to cross the magical 1,000-run mark.

Port Qasim Authority’s strike bowler Sohail Khan won the best bowler award while Islamabad Leopards skipper Zohaib Ahmed was adjudged the most outstanding cricketer for his all-round showing in the season.

When play started on Friday, NBP were by no means out of the woods since 26 runs were still needed by them to avert an innings defeat. The overnight pair of Sami Aslam (100) and skipper Kamran Akmal (131) resumed the innings at 275-3 with their partnership already worth 204.

The second new ball, which was long overdue but not availed late on Thursday, was finally taken until after another six overs had lapsed in the extended three-hour session set for Friday.

With Taufiq Umar off the field since Thursday because the Pakistan opener was unwell, acting skipper Azhar Ali was handicapped by the loss of his main paceman Asad Ali (torn calf muscle) as well as the placid nature of the pitch.

Test leg-spinner Yasir Shah tried everything in his armoury to prise out the batsmen into making mistakes. As a result, he toiled through 54 overs but was only rewarded with the scalp of Kamran, who was deceived by a flipper for a 168-ball 137 (20 boundaries), to end the stand of 220 (in 241 minutes).

Kamran’s departure at 291-4 prompted Azhar to opt for the new ball. The decision paid off handsomely when three wickets fell in as many overs with the total not budging from 309. Sami was lbw to Imran Ali for a patient 122 (322 balls, 17 fours) after the young opener had occupied the crease for 431 minutes.

Left-armer Manzoor Khan had Umar Waheed caught behind for a 34-ball five before Imran won another lbw appeal against Qaiser Abbas. Suddenly the game swung towards SNGPL with NBP leading by mere eight runs.

Wahab Riaz, a handy lower-order batsman with eight 50-plus scores in first-class cricket under his belt, was then joined by Raza in a rollicking partnership of 86 off 98 balls in the next 75 minutes to revive NBP’s hopes.

Batting with gay abandon, the pair threw their bats until Wahab was run out for 36 (43 balls, six boundaries) when he took a chance on substitute Imran Butt’s arm in the deep but to no avail.

Next man Ahmed Jamal (8) ate up 50 minutes in the company of Raza who kept the scoreboard moving with superb strikes. But the real fun began when Zia-ul-Haq arrived after Imran had deservingly bagged his 16th five-for with the wicket of Ahmed.

Raza, understandably, dominated the proceedings. His first 50 came off 61 deliveries in 85 minutes, featuring seven fours and straight-hit sixes off Azhar and Yasir. Showing great temperament, the 22-year-old right-hander reached his century in 194 minutes off 162 balls (11 fours and four sixes) while usurping his previous best score of 57 against United Bank in Islamabad last month.

Raza, who in all faced 209 balls during his 229-minute stay, finally perished as he became Rizwan’s maiden first-class wicket after having hit three more fours after crossing the three-figure mark. Zia too enjoyed himself in the last wicket stand of 87 with a career-best 28 not out.

In the remaining time, SNGPL collected 28-0 when play was called off after eight of the 15 mandatory overs had been bowled.

Scoreboard

NATONAL BANK (1st Innings) 242 (Mohammad Nawaz 76, Qaiser Abbas 59, Umar Waheed 48; Manzoor Khan 5-43, Azhar Ali 2-35).SNGPL (1st Innings) 543 (Mohammad Rizwan 224, Khurram Shehzad 120, Adnan Akmal 57, Ali Waqas 31; Fawad Alam 3-33, Ahmed Jamal 2-103, Zia-ul-Haq 2-112, Raza Hasan 2-161).NATIONAL BANK (2nd Innings, overnight 275-3): Nasir Jamshed c Adnan b Imran4Sami Aslam lbw b Imran122Mohammad Nawaz lbw b Imran2Fawad Alam b Manzoor33Kamran Akmal lbw b Yasir137Umar Waheed c Adnan b Manzoor5Qaiser Abbas lbw b Imran0Wahab Riaz run out36Raza Hasan c and b Rizwan123Ahmed Jamal c sub b Imran8Zia-ul-Haq not out28EXTRAS (LB-6, W-2, NB-2)10TOTAL (all out, 160.3 overs)508FALL OF WKTS: 1-021, 2-29, 3-71, 4-291, 5-309, 6-309, 7-309, 8-395, 9-421.BOWLING: Asad Ali 12-6-25-0 (1nb; Manzoor Khan 27-4-98-2 (1nb, 1w); Imran Ali 30-9-85-5 (1w); Yasir Shah 54-7-177-1; Taufiq Umar 2-0-15-0; Azhar Ali 33-4-98-0; Mohammad Rizwan 2.3-0-4-1.SNGPL (2nd Innings):Naeemuddin not out 11Khurram Shehzad not out17EXTRAS:0TOTAL (for no wkt, 10 overs)28BOWLING: Fawad Alam 5-1-8-0; Kamran Akmal 4-0-18-0; Sami Aslam 1-0-2-0.RESULT: Match drawn; SNGPL win title on first-innings lead.UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza.TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.SCORERS: Syed Imran Ali (official); Wasim Abbas (media).MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Mohammad Rizwan.

Published in Dawn, December 27th, 2014