All-round Hafeez thumps United Bank

Star-studded Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited thrashed United Bank Limited by an innings and 216 runs in Rawalpindi. Mohammad Hafeez hit 193, just three shy of his career best, Misbah-ul-Haq made 109 and Ali Waqas 95 as SNGPL racked up 455 for 5 declared. Misbah has now made successive hundreds, after his 110 in his side's previous game. Hafeez's best in this tournament so far was 95 against Khan Research Laboratories in October. Before hitting 32 fours in his 193 off 301 deliveries, Hafeez had also picked up 4 for 13 as United Bank crumbled to 165 after being inserted by Misbah. Only opener Abid ali (82) resisted for United Bank, who plummeted further in the second innings. Asad Ali grabbed a career-best 7 for 42 to blow them away for just 74, with five batsmen registering ducks, and eight failing to get into double digits.

Wahab Riaz took a first-class best 7 for 29 as National Bank of Pakistan thumped State Bank of Pakistan by an innings and 31 runs inside three days in Lahore. Coming on as first change and after Imran Khan had made the first breakthrough, Riaz scythed through the State Bank line-up to dismiss them for 136 in reply to National Bank's 304. Fawad Alam enforced the follow-on and this time, the wickets were shared among four bowlers. While Riaz and Hammad Azam picked up three each, Imran and Uzair-ul-Haq took two apiece as State Bank managed 137. Byes contributed 18 and 23 to State Bank's totals in both innings. National Bank's 304 had earlier been set up by fifties from Sami Aslam (89) and Qaiser Abbas (66).

A combined second-innings bowling performance by Pakistan International Airlines helped them defeat Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited by six wickets in Islamabad. After conceding a 60-run first-innings lead, and after No. 4 Haris Sohail had scored his third century in three matches, PIA fast bowlers Aizaz Cheema and Anwar Ali claimed seven wickets between them to bowl ZTBL out for 131 in the second innings. While chasing 192 to win, however, PIA were in trouble at 77 for 4, but the middle order thereafter played responsibly to reach the target for the loss of six wickets.

PIA had a poor first innings when Mohammad Khalil - who ended the game with nine victims - and Sohail Tanvir took eight wickets together to help dismiss them for 152. The ZTBL lead, however, had been brought about by Sohail's century. Sohail, who scored 120, was the only batsman who provided some resistance to the PIA bowling, as the next best score was 33, with seven single-digit scores.

Azam Hussain, Kamran Younis and Tanvir Ahmed bowled Port Qasim Authority to an improbable 17-run win against Water and Power Development Authority in Faisalabad. Set only 118 to win, WAPDA were never in the chase as the PQA trio struck regularly. Only four batsmen managed to make double-digit scores as WAPDA were dismissed for 100. PQA themselves had an average outing in the second innings, with No. 7 Mohammad Salman's 36 being the highest score. Zulfiqar Babar picked up 5 for 40 as PQA made 173. Both sides fared better in the first innings, with WAPDA eventually taking a lead of 56 after posting 271 on the back of fifties from Sohaib Maqsood and Ali Azmat. PQA, who chose to bat, had been restricted to 215 after Junaid Khan's 5 for 68.

Fast bowler Abdul Ameer, 20, took his best figures of 7 for 66 as Habib Bank came from behind to beat Khan Research Laboratories by 65 runs in Rawalpindi. Habib Bank had conceded a first-innings lead of 92 but Imran Farhat cracked an aggressive century to set up a second-innings total of 399. Farhat was helped by contributions from Ahmed Shehzad (75), captain Younis Khan (58) and Asad Shafiq (80*). Faced with a target of 308, KRL lost wickets regularly, save for a second-wicket stand of 119 between Shoaib Ahmed (60) and Bazid Khan (54) and a ninth-wicket partnership of 91 between Nauman Ali (51) and Mohammad Irfan. Ameer dismissed all but three of the Habib Bank batsmen, who fell to Ehsan Adil. There had been no fifties on both sides in the first innings but KRL had a handy lead after making 253, despite Adil's 6 for 58.