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| November 3, 2005 | Thursday | Ramzan 29, 1426 |
England pull off stunning victory in tour opener
RAWALPINDI, Nov 2: England’s trusted spinner Ashley Giles and uncapped paceman Liam Plunkett ripped PCB’s Patron’s XI apart on Wednesday to pull off an improbable 52-run victory on the last day of their three-day tour opener at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.
Needing just 158 runs to win after Yasir Arafat had done the early morning mopping up of the England second innings to finish with a match haul of 9-76, the Patron’s side collapsed like a pack of cards for a mere 105 runs.
In that destruction, Giles who is expected to play a key role in England’s forthcoming Test campaign, snared four wickets and Plunkett snapped up as many adding to his three in the first innings.
The home side had victory within smelling distance, having dismissed the tourists for 112 after they had been 39-6 overnight but it proved to be a script not even England could have thought of.
All the home batsmen cut a sorry figure with three of them going for nought among them Asim Kamal for whom there seemed to be no end to a poor run of form.
A side that was 13 for no loss at lunch had been mercilessly cut down to 88-8 by the tea interval and for them the writing was on the wall.
And after Arafat, whose bowling feat was yet another reminder to the national selectors, had been controversially given caught behind off Shaun Udal first ball following tea, the script was almost complete.
It was shortly afterwards that Udal had Zulqarnain caught in the slips by captain Michael Vaughan and England headed back to the pavilion perhaps wondering how delicately the day had begun for them and how it had ended. The glorious uncertainties of the game were much in evidence.
The Patron’s XI had started off well though with Ashar Zaidi and Yasir Hameed putting on 50 for the first wicket but once they were separated by Plunkett, it marked the start of the slump.
Dropped on 24 by Kevin Pietersen at square leg, Yasir fell six runs later, a juggling catch taken by Andrew Strauss at mid-wicket.
A quicker one from Giles trapped Bazid Khan leg before and Ashar edged Plunkett to James Anderson fielding at mid-on for 26 to leave the Patron’s an unimpressive 65-3. Soon Asim Kamal was sent on his way, caught by Marcus Trescothick in second slip, the Durham bowler taking the honour again.
A recovery appeared out of question especially after Faisal Iqbal gave a high catch to Matt Prior behind the stumps while Giles knocked down Shahzad Malik’s stumps that left the home side reeling at 75-7.
Captain Misbahul Haq couldn’t do much with the bat either and edged one from Plunkett to Trescothick in the slips after scoring only 14 runs.
Earlier an eighth-wicket stand of 56 between Paul Collingwood and Trescothick, England’s life-saver in the first innings, lifted the total but Arafat put the brakes on the tourists with the wickets of Giles and Udal, both falling for nought before dismissing Ian Bell for 1.
SCOREBOARD
ENGLAND (1st Innings) 256-9 declared (M.E. Trescothick 124 not out, M.J. Prior 50; Yasir Arafat 4-45).
PCB PATRON’S XI (1st Innings) 211.
ENGLAND (2nd Innings, overnight 39-6):
A.J. Strauss c Bazid b Shah 6
M.J. Prior c Yasir Arafat b Irshad 16
A.G.R. Loudon c Zulqarnain b Irshad 1
M.P. Vaughan lbw b Irshad 0
K.P. Pietersen b Yasir Arafat 10
P.D. Collingwood b Najaf 34
G.O. Jones b Yasir Arafat 0
I.R. Bell lbw b Yasir Arafat 1
M.E. Trescothick not out 38
A.F. Giles b Yasir Arafat 0
M.J. Hoggard c Ashar b Yasir Arafat 0
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-1) 6
TOTAL (all out, 34.1 overs) 112
FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-19, 3-23, 4-38, 5-38, 6-38, 7-46, 8-102, 9-105.
BOWLING: Najaf Shah 11-1-34-2; Mohammad Irshad 11-2-42-3; Yasir Arafat 12.1-4-31-5.
PCB PATRON’S XI (2nd Innings):
Ashar Zaidi c Anderson b Plunkett 26
Yasir Hameed c Strauss b Giles 30
Bazid Khan lbw b Giles 0
Misbahul Haq c Trescothick b Plunkett 14
Asim Kamal c Trescothick b Plunkett 0
Faisal Iqbal c Prior b Plunkett 2
Shahzad Malik b Giles 3
Khalid Latif c Strauss b Giles 0
Yasir Arafat c Prior b Udal 4
Zulqarnain Haider c Vaughan b Udal 4
Tahir Khan not out 8
EXTRAS (LB-9, W-5) 14
TOTAL (all out, 36.5 overs) 105
FALL OF WKTS: 1-50, 2-50, 3-65, 4-65, 5-71, 6-75, 7-75, 8-87, 9-88.
BOWLING: Hoggard 9-3-16-0 (1w); Anderson 5-0-17-0; Giles 12-3-39-4; Plunkett 7-0-16-4; Udal 3.5-0-8-2.
UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Z.I. Pasha.
PLAYERS PER SIDE: England 14 (11 bat, 11 field); Patron’s XI 15 (11 bat, 11 field).
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