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The Pakistanis responded strongly to Leicestershire, on the second day of their three-day opener on the 2006 tour of England, here at Grace Road on Sunday with their batsmen compiling an impressive 304 runs in their first innings, for the loss of five wickets before the declaration came.

The Pakistanis in fact were still 11 short of the Leicestershire score of 315-9 declared on Saturday’s opening day, when stand-in skipper Younis Khan applied closure. The hosts, 45-2 in their second innings, are now ahead by 56 runs with eight wickets standing.

The form of the Pakistanis’ first-wicket pair was most encouraging. Salman Butt and Imran Farhat, both left-handers, gave their team a solid 145-run start. Salman struck form with a sedate 68 that came off 133 balls with 12 boundaries.

Imran, called back to the pavilion after having made 81 and declared ‘retired out’, faced 132 deliveries for his runs and hit 12 fours and a six.

Fast-medium bowler Nicholas Walker then struck with three wickets for Leicestershire, but the sixth-wicket Pakistanis pair piled up an unbroken stand of 103 that took the total to 304-5.

Wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal hammered five fours and fours sixes in a quickfire 62 not out off 81 balls. Faisal Iqbal was more watchful, scoring an unbeaten 40 off 72 balls with five hits to the fence. The visitors’ opening bowlers Mohammad Sami and Umar Gul, who had figures of 3-53 and 2-52 respectively in the first innings, took a wicket apiece when Leicestershire batted a second time yesterday late afternoon.

Scoreboard

Pakistanis won toss

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

Pakistanis 1st inns (overnight 14-0)

Salman Butt b Walker 68

Imran Farhat retired out 81

Shoaib Malik lbw b Henderson 18

*Younis Khan lbw b Walker 9

Faisal Iqbal not out 40

Shahid Afridi lbw b Walker 13

†Kamran Akmal not out 62

Extras (b4, lb6, w2, nb1) 13

Total (5 wkts dec, 85 overs) 304

Did not bat: Mohammad Sami, Umar Gul, Shahid Nazir, Danish Kaneria

Fall: 1-145, 2-182, 3-185, 4-201

Bowling: Walker 24-5-47-3 (1w); Cummins 16-1-94-0 (1nb); Liddle 14-4-34-0; Henderson 26-7-101-1 (1w); Snape 5-1-18-0

Leicestershire 2nd inns

D D J Robinson not out 13

M A G Boyce c Shoaib b Umar 6

H D Ackerman b Sami 4

†T J New not out 12

Extras (b4, lb4, nb2) 10

Total (2 wkts, 10 overs) 45

To bat: D Mongia, J L Sadler, *J N Snape, C W Henderson, N G E Walker, R A G Cummins, C J Liddle

Fall: 1-18, 2-25

Bowling: Mohammad Sami 5-0-28-1 (2nb); Umar Gul 4-1-9-1; Danish Kaneria 1-1-0-0

Umpires: N L Bainton and J W Holder.

Source:The News