SHENLEY, Aug 12: Pakistan’s pace ace Shoaib Akhtar made an unimpressive return to international cricket here on Saturday despite dismissing the West Indies ‘A’ opener Devon Smith with his first over in the 40-over tour game.
Shoaib, wearing a demonic look with long hair and a stubble in his first international game for five months, bowled with lot of fire in his opening spell to get the tourists off to a fine start.
Operating from his full 32-yard run-up, the fast bowler clean bowled Smith in the very first over of the day for a duck before fellow opener Simmons and one-down batsman Runako Morton saw him off with some lusty blows over the boundary ropes couple with stubborn defence.
The world’s fastest bowler looked decidedly rusty as he returned for his second spell, proving expensive and spraying the ball all over.
But while the Rawalpindi Express clearly struggled to sustain his momentum and line in the eleven overs which went for 59, his pace partner Samiullah Niazi was in his element and reminded the team management of their folly to field without him at Headingley with a fine exhibition of seam and swing bowling.
As the West Indies ‘A’ opener Simmons unleashed an array of fine strokes in a stylish ton from one end, Samiullah dismissed Morton, Joseph and Mohammed with superb deliveries, finishing the innings with impressive figures of 3 for 30 in six overs.
Rain had reduced the 50-over match to 40-overs-a-side game and West Indies ‘A’ piled up a fighting 214-4 at the end of their quota.
Scoreboard
West Indies ‘A’:
D S Smith b Shoaib Akhtar 0
L M P Simmons not out 108
R S Morton b Samiullah 44
S C Joseph b Samiullah 0
J Mohammed c Akmal b Samiullah 0
D R Smith not out 55
EXTRAS (NB-1, LB-6) 7
TOTAL (for 4 wkts, Overs 40) 214
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-86, 3-86, 4-99
BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 11-1-59-1; Rao Iftikhar 6-0-24-0; Abdul Razzaq 6-1-29-0; Samiullah Niazi 6-0-30-3; Mohammad Hafeez 7-1-38-0; Shahid Afridi 4-0-28- 0
Toss: won by Pakistan
Pakistan: Taufiq Umar, Imran Farhat, Mohammad Hafeez, Salman Butt, Faisal Iqbal, Kamran Akmal, Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Rao Iftikhar, Samiullah Niazi and Shahid Nazir (sub).—Agencies