Yasir Arafat blasts Pakistan A to victory
Yasir Arafat blasted through England A's defences with 6 for 24 to power Pakistan A to a second comfortable victory in their triangular tournament
Cricinfo staff
23-Mar-2005
Pakistan A 80 for 5 beat England A 79 (Arafat 6-24) by five wickets
Scorecard
Scorecard
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Matt Prior got England off to a solid start after Ian Bell chose to bat, sharing a stand of 30 with Vikram Solanki, but once Solanki fell for 15 England never recovered. They lost their last nine wickets for 35 runs within ten overs as Yasir ran through the England attack. Prior (14) and Ian Bell (11) were the only other England batsmen to get into double figures as England had an innings to forget. Riaz Afridi worked well in tandem with Yasir and, although England's batsmen took him for more than five an over, he took three vital wickets as England collapsed in spectacular fashion.
Yet England's opening pace attack of Sajid Mahmood and Jon Lewis didn't let the Pakistani batsmen reach their meagre total without a fight. Mahmood removed Wajahatullah Wasti, Pakistan's hero against Sri Lanka, for 7 before Lewis struck twice to dismiss Ashar Zaidi (8) and Hasan Raza without scoring. And when Faisal Iqbal edged Mahmood through for Prior's third catch, England felt they were in with a shout (32 for 4).
Pakistan lost just one more wicket, though, as Misbah-ul-Haq and Aamer Bashir held firm to steer them to what was, in the end, an easy victory. Pakistan will now face Sri Lanka on Thursday as they bid to make it three wins from three, while England will play against Sri Lanka on Saturday.