PAKISTAN Association ushered in the New Year in the same way they finished the old one - on a winning note - defeating Scorpions on their home pitch at the Hong Kong Cricket Club yesterday.
A comfortable 69-run victory kept the Pakistanis on line for the CMI Sunday League title. This is now just a matter of course. As inevitable as night following day.
With the Pakistanis all but crowned, what is of interest now is whether or not they can finish the 1995/96 season on an unbeaten note. If they do it, it will be a feat which has never been achieved before in the Sunday League.
It seems this is the motivating force pushing the Pakistanis as they roll on mercilessly towards the title. After yesterday's crushing win, only the Wanderers, Infidels, Little Sai Wan and Dragons (who have to play them twice) remain in the way of the Pakistanis.
A superb 140 by Wasim Imtiaz ensured early on that the Scorpions would not become the first side to inflict pain on the Pakistanis this season.
Imtiaz, who finished last year with a massive 170 against the Optimists, hadn't lost his touch during the three week holiday break, collecting his second successive century in imperious style.
