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Returning from a knee injury, stand-in Pakistan captain Younis Khan hit an unbeaten 50 as his team reached 97 for three, in reply to Northamptonshire’s first innings score of 269 for three wickets declared, on the first day of the three-day tour match here at the County Ground on Thursday.

The Pakistanis were earlier frustrated by a brilliant knock of 142 by Northampton opener Stephen Peters, who faced 195 balls in his four hours 20 minutes stay at the crease while hitting 26 fours.

With Rawalpindi-born England Test cricketer Usman Afzaal, Peters was involved in a 170-run stand for the third wicket. Opener Bilal Shafayat, another player with a Pakistani connection, gave Peters a 71-run start.

Afzaal’s unbeaten 71 came of 134 balls and included 12 fours. The Pakistanis were off to a horrendous start, losing both openers for personal contributions of four runs each.

With several players either being rested or suffering fitness problems, the Pakistanis borrowed Peshawar off-spinner Arshad Khan and all-rounder Jannisar Khan from the English club circuit. Others who joined in, and who are part of the touring squad as official replacements, are Samiullah Niazi, Taufeeq Umar and Rao Iftikhar.

The left-handed Taufeeq scored 29 off 28 balls with six fours while Younis’s 50 not out has come off 66 balls with 10 boundaries.

Scoreboard

Northamptonshire won toss

Northamptonshire 1st inns

S D Peters c Faisal b Samiullah 142

B M Shafayat c Younis b Samiullah 30

A R White c Kamran b Jannisar 15

U Afzaal not out 71

Extras (lb4, w1, nb6) 11

Total (3 wkts dec, 62.3 overs) 269

Did not bat: S C Ganguly, *D J G Sales,

†M H Wessels, B J Phillips, C Pietersen, D H Wigley, J F Brown

Fall: 1-71, 2-99, 3-269

Bowling: Shahid Nazir 10-0-47-0 (3nb); Rao Iftikhar 11-0-56-0; Samiullah Niazi 8.3-1-35-2 (2nb, 1w); Jannisar Khan 5-0-28-1; Arshad Khan 19-6-65-0 (1nb); Imran Farhat 9-1-34-0

Pakistanis 1st inns

Salman Butt c Wessels b Pietersen 4

Imran Farhat c Peters b Phillips 4

Taufeeq Umar c Wessels b Wigley 29

*Younis Khan not out 50

Faisal Iqbal not out 7

Extras (lb3) 3

Total (3 wkts, 25 overs) 97

To bat: †Kamran Akmal, Jannisar Khan, Rao Iftikhar, Arshad Khan, Shahid Nazir, Samiullah Niazi

Fall: 1-4, 2-24, 3-50

Bowling: Pietersen 5.4-0-39-1; Phillips 6-0-22-1; Wigley 9-4-27-1; Shafayat 0.2-0-6-0; Brown 4-4-0-0

Umpires: N G B Cook and N A Mallender
Source:The News