CricketViewer.com

Four wickets for Danish Kaneria and a fine hundred from Shoaib Malik helped Pakistan brush aside Leicestershire in the first warm-up match of their tour of England, here at Grace Road on Monday. Leicestershire were dismissed for just 191 in their second innings to leave Pakistan the relatively simple task of knocking off 203 which they managed with ease.

Resuming the third day in the precarious position of 45 for two, Leicestershire lost their opener Darren Robinson immediately and Jeremy Snape, the captain, didn’t last long either when he was bowled by Umar Gul for 5.

Tom New, the 21-year-old middle-order batsman and John Sadler shared a fifth-wicket stand of 105 to steady proceedings, with New (67) playing the anchor role while Sadler struck 11 fours in his adventurous 58-ball 51.

The introduction of Kaneria after lunch was the key, however, as he ran through the lower-order to take 4-32 as Leicestershire lost their last five wickets in just six overs. This left Pakistan the relatively straightforward task of knocking off 203, albeit from just 58 overs.

That they cruised to victory was largely thanks to Malik who, promoted to open the innings to give him time in the middle, struck an excellent 112. Imran Farhat and Salman Butt both fell cheaply to Chris Liddle — who bowled very tidily in his ten overs to concede just 27 runs — but both struck solid fifties in Pakistan’s first innings, indicating that the tourists’ batting form is already showing promising signs of form.

Malik was there at the end, along with his captain, Younis Khan, who ended with a hurried 55 with six fours and a six. Pakistan next face England A — a team whose strong squad include Matthew Hoggard, Ian Bell and Alastair Cook — on Thursday, at Canterbury, ahead of the first Test at Lord’s which starts the following week.

Pakistanis won toss

Leicestershire 1st inns 315-9 dec (D Mongia 129*, J L Sadler 92)

Pakistanis 1st inns 304-5 dec (Salman Butt 68, Imran Farhat 81, Faisal Iqbal 40*, Kamran Akmal 62*)

Leicestershire 2nd inns (overnight 45-2)

D D J Robinson c Kamran b Sami 13

M A G Boyce c Shoaib b Umar 6

H D Ackerman b Sami 4

†T J New c Younis b Kaneria 67

*J N Snape b Umar 5

J L Sadler c Imran b Kaneria 51

D Mongia c Kamran b Afridi 14

C W Henderson c Kamran b Kaneria 1

N G E Walker c Younis b Afridi 0

R A G Cummins not out 0

C J Liddle b Kaneria 0

Extras (b14, lb9, nb7) 30

Total (all out, 43 overs) 191

Fall: 1-18, 2-25, 3-45, 4-55, 5-160, 6-181, 7-190, 8-191, 9-191

Bowling: Mohammad Sami 10-0-50-2 (5nb); Umar Gul 10-2-43-2; Danish Kaneria 11-3-32-4; Imran Farhat 1-1-0-0; Shahid Nazir 6-3-22-0 (1nb); Shahid Afridi 5-0-21-2

Pakistanis 2nd inns

Shoaib Malik not out 110

Imran Farhat c Henderson b Liddle 31

Salman Butt c New b Liddle 8

*Younis Khan not out 55

Extras (lb3) 3

Total (2 wkts, 40.2 overs) 207

Did not bat: Faisal Iqbal, Shahid Afridi, †Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Danish Kaneria

Fall: 1-38, 2-54

Bowling: Walker 7-0-45-0; Liddle 10-3-27-2; Cummins 9-0-37-0; Henderson 5-0-42-0; Mongia 5-0-24-0; Snape 4.2-0-29-0

Result: Pakistanis won by 8 wickets

Umpires: N L Bainton and J W Holder.

Source:The News