ACS Oveseas First-Class Annual 2013

Pakistan in 2012/13 Pakistan played no ‘home’ Tests in 2012 or 2012/13, either in Pakistan or in their adopted home of the United Arab Emirates. Elsewhere they drew a blank in their six Tests, losing 1-0 in a three-Test series in Sri Lanka in June-July 2012, and being whitewashed 3-0 by top-ranking South Africa in February 2013, where throughout the series they had little answer to the home side’s pace attack led by D.W.Steyn, M.Morkel and V.D.Philander. Of the spinners who had taken England apart early in 2012, only Saeed Ajmal showed anything approaching the same form, and although some other bowlers and indeed batsmen had their days, none could provide the consistency needed if Pakistan are to achieve greater success. Nevertheless Pakistan held on to their fifth place in the ICC rankings, even rising briefly to fourth before India’s return to form against Australia. Indeed, despite their blank season, Pakistan slightly widened the gap ahead of sixth-placed Sri Lanka. But the hopes for better things expressed twelve months earlier were not to be fulfilled. The domestic set-up was completely revised for 2012/13. The previous year’s Pentangular Tournament was done away with, and the nine departmental sides from the 2011/12 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy were removed from that competition. Instead, joined by Port Qasim Authority (making their debut as a first-class side), they played in an early-season tournament for the President’s Trophy, won by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines. Last year’s Quaid-e-Azam winners Pakistan International Airlines could finish no better than fourth. This left the 2012/13 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to be contested later in the season by the 13 regional sides that had taken part in it, with little success, in 2011/12, together with Bahawalpur (returning to the first-class fold for the first time since 2002/03). The sides were initially divided into two notionally equal groups of seven, and the top four teams in each of these groups then contested a ‘Super Eight’ tournament, itself divided into two groups; meanwhile the ‘Bottom Six’ teams played off against each other in similar fashion. The Quaid-e-Azam final that emerged from this complicated process paired the top teams from the two Super Eight groups – Karachi Blues, unbeaten and with six wins from their nine matches so far, and Sialkot, who were victorious in their group despite having only narrowly qualified for the Super Eights in the first place. The final went to form, with Karachi Blues winning by nine wickets to regain the trophy they had last won in 2009/10. In the lower reaches, Faisalabad – last and pointless in their initial group – emerged with the consolation prize of winning the ‘Bottom Six’ tournament. The timing of the two domestic competitions allowed the leading players to appear in both. Umar Amin (Port Qasim Authority and Rawalpindi) topped the season’s runscorers’ list with 1,321 runs at an average of 45.55; eight others passed a thousand runs. Three bowlers took 80 or more wickets, with the way led by 34-year-old slow left-armer Zulfiqar Babar (WAPDA and Multan), with 93 wickets at 17.04. (KSW) President’s Trophy 2012/13: Final table P W WLF L DWF DLF ND Pts NetRRF 9 6 0 3 0 1 Sui Northern Gas Pipelines 9 6 0 0 1 2 0 57 0.071 2 Habib Bank Limited 9 4 2 1 1 0 1 51 0.216 3 Khan Research Laboratories 9 3 1 3 2 0 0 39 0.273 4 Pakistan International Airlines 9 2 2 2 1 2 0 33 -0.045 5 Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited 9 3 1 4 0 1 0 33 0.203 6 WAPDA 9 3 0 3 2 1 0 33 -0.106 7 National Bank of Pakistan 9 2 1 4 1 1 0 27 0.266 8 State Bank of Pakistan 9 1 1 4 1 2 0 18 0.036 9 Port Qasim Authority 9 1 1 5 0 1 1 15 -0.128 10 United Bank Limited 9 0 0 8 1 0 0 3 -0.755 FINAL: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines beat Habib Bank Limited by 75 runs. 281