June 11, 2003	Wednesday	Rabi-us-Sani 10, 1424

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CHELMSFORD, June 10: Yasir Hameed stroked a stylish 82 but ended up on the losing side as Essex beat Pakistan by 50 runs in the day/night fixture at Chelmsford on Monday.

Pakistan, chasing 285 for victory, were in with a slight chance when they reached 188 for six in 38 overs. But the departure of Yasir, caught at covers, dashed the tourists hopes of turning the tables on the local county.

Yasir faced 89 balls and his innings was studded with eight sweetly-timed boundaries. A late fight back by Mohammad Sami (20) and Shabbir Ahmad (23) helped Pakistan to reach 234 in 46.1 overs.

Pakistan top order collapsed again when the four frontline batsmen returned to the pavilion with the scoreboard showing 72, that included a 43-ball 34 by Bilal Asad who was promoted to open the innings.

However, Yasir and Shoaib Malik (35) brought some stability to the innings by adding 68 runs for the fifth wicket. And when it looked Pakistan might make a match out of it, Shoaib and Mohammad Hafeez were run-out in a space of four balls as Pakistan were reduced to 142 for six from 140 for four.

Earlier, Andy Flower hit an unbeaten century to propel Essex to an imposing 284 for six.Flower, who retired from international cricket after the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup clobbered 11 boundaries in a 128-ball 115 to spoil the day for Yousuf Youhana who became the first non-Muslim to captain a Pakistan cricket team. The match later turned something Youhana would like to forget soon when he got a first-ball duck when he was pinned in front of the wickets.

Flower had a couple of close shaves when he was dropped by part-time wicket-keeper Yasir Hameed down the leg side in the first over of the match off Shoaib Akhtar. At 95, he mistimed a push but was lucky when the ball fell behind Shoaib Malik after getting the leading edge.

Flower was also lucky to get away with a minor bruise on his left shoulder when he was hit by a beamer from Mohammad Sami.

Nevertheless, it was a typical Flower innings when he nudged and pushed the ball around but didn’t miss the opportunity to punish anything short and loose. He received good support from James Foster who hit a rapid 67-ball 56 that included four boundaries and a six. The two added 80 runs for the second wicket.

For the fourth wicket, Flower put on 95 runs with Ravindra Bopara who finished with 46 that came off 52 balls and included four boundaries.

For Pakistan, wickets were evenly shared between Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Sami and Shoaib Malik. Shoaib Akhtar conceded 47 runs and looked fast and quick while Sami continued to make steady improvement in his bowling though his figures of two for 54 don’t do justice with the effort he put in. Shoaib Malik went away for 38 runs from his seven overs.

Pakistan rested skipper Rashid Latif, Umar Gul, Misbah-ul-Haq and Faisal Athar while Azhar Mahmood will join the team on June 14.