ACS Overseas First-Class Annual 2011

The top of Division One was extremely tight, with the first five places separated by only six points. Three of the top five – Habib Bank, Rawalpindi and WAPDA – had very similar records of six wins and three defeats, while Pakistan International Airlines had an arguably better record of five wins without being beaten, and Zarai Taraqiati Bank (five wins and two defeats) also had a good season. In the final table, Habib Bank and PIA tied at the top with 57, but Habib Bank claimed priority through having one more win. Habib Bank’s success was based essentially on their bowling, notably the Test discard Danish Kaneria and the slow left-armer Mohammad Aslam. The attack was generally able to remove the opposition reasonably cheaply so that only two of Habib Bank’s matches failed to reach a result (and one of these was almost totally washed out). The batting, however, was less reliable, hence Habib Bank’s three defeats. PIA, by contrast, consistently achieved good scores, Shoaib Malik and Kamran Sajid often to the fore. These two also made useful contributions with the ball, while Aizaz Cheema, with 57 wickets at only 14.56, was outstanding. He took six of the last seven wickets to conjure a remarkable win against WAPDA, who, chasing 326 for victory, were 259-2 and 302-5 but fell for 307. But in other matches, PIA struggled to dismiss opponents twice. In Division Two, Khan Research Laboratories comfortably headed the league stage and was the only side to record five wins, but failed in the final. The Quaid-e-Azam batting aggregates were easily headed by Usman Salahuddin of Lahore Shalimar in Division Two, with 927 at 77.25; in Division One the leading run-scorer was Rameez Raja of Karachi Blues, narrowly ahead of Shoaib Malik. The leading wicket-taker was Sadaf Hussain with 64 at 16.12 for Rawalpindi. He was just ahead of Abdur Rauf, whose 63 at 19.60 represented an astonishing personal performance in the context of a disastrous campaign by Multan. The first-class season concluded with the Pentangular Cup, which was reorganised to consist of five regional sides. The tournament comprised a round-robin league followed by a final. The teams were well balanced, each side gaining at least one win and suffering at least one defeat. Sind, the only team to achieve two wins, finished top and beat Baluchistan in the final. For Baluchistan, Abdur Rauf was again outstanding, and finished the first-class season as easily the most prolific wicket-taker with 91 at 20.71. But Sind, with Danish Kaneria and Mohammed Sami, was also well-equipped in bowling, and had the outstanding batsmen of the tournament in Fawad Alam and Sarfraz Ahmed. Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2010/11: Final tables Division One P W WLF L DWF DLF ND A Pts NetRR 9 6 0 3 0 0 0 1 Habib Bank Limited 11 6 0 3 1 0 1 0 57 0.375 2 Pakistan International Airlines 11 5 0 0 4 1 0 1 57 0.100 3 Rawalpindi 11 5 1 3 1 0 1 0 54 0.331 4 WAPDA 11 5 1 3 1 0 1 0 54 0.172 5 Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited 11 5 0 2 2 1 1 0 51 0.128 6 National Bank of Pakistan 11 3 1 0 4 2 0 1 45 0.445 7 Sialkot 11 3 0 4 1 2 1 0 30 -0.206 8 Karachi Blues 11 2 1 6 1 1 0 0 27 0.098 9 Islamabad 11 1 1 6 2 1 0 0 21 -0.399 10 Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited 11 1 1 4 1 3 1 0 18 -0.338 11 Faisalabad 11 1 1 3 0 6 0 0 15 -0.261 12 Multan 11 0 0 10 0 1 0 0 0 -0.530 FINAL: HABIB BANK LIMITED beat Pakistan International Airlines by five wickets. 240 Pakistan in 2010/11