Ashes Champs burnt down to ashes at Lahore

LAHORE—Pakistan romped to an emphatic victory at Lahore with a stunning bowling display in the afternoon which blew England away and earned them a 2-0 series win. England lost their last eight wickets for 43 runs in just over an hour of carnage brought about Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Ahktar - Kaneria ended with 4 for 52 and Shoaib Ahktar with 5 for 71.
Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood gave England hope by clinging on throughout the morning but Kaneria started the rot just after lunch, dismissing Collingwood, Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff in quick time.
Then Shoaib landed a series of telling blows with some slower balls, and some of the hot stuff, to take Pakistan to a thoroughly deserved victory by an innings and 100 runs — a huge margin. 1.30pm England 227 for 8 (Udal 4*, Hoggard 0*) and 288 trail Pakistan 636 for 8 dec by 121 runsDanish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar stunned England with six wickets in 40 balls during a
magical spell of pace and spin straight after the lunch interval as Pakistan surged towards a memorable win.
Returning to his over the wicket line Kaneria produced the perfect leg-break to remove Paul Collingwood for 80 but the real drama was to follow in his next over.
Kevin Pietersen was intent on taking an attack approach but it proved his downfall as a forcing backfoot drive found the safe hands of Hasan Raza, who held a sharp reflex chance with consummate ease. Kaneria then produced a piece of bowling right out of the top draw; a googly that Andrew Flintoff did not pick, which crashed into off stump. The Pakistanis could hardly contain themselves, Kaneria found himself on the floor and on a hat-trick.
He should probably have had it, too, when another brilliant googly struck Geriant Jones on the pad, but Darrell Hair declined the appeal. It was an over of brilliance from Kaneria and there was still more to come for Pakistan as Shoaib then took centre stage.
Ian Bell had watched the carnage unfold then, on 92, became the latest casualty. Shoaib unfurled one of his wicked slower balls which looped underneath Bell’s bat and struck him on the back pad and was heading for middle and leg stump.
Shoaib launched into his airplane celebrations and the stadium erupted. They had hardly had time to catch their breath when Shoaib struck again, but this one owed everything to luck as Geriant Jones got a huge inside edge onto his pad. He then claimed the fifth wicket of one of the more memorable spells of pace bowling by fooling Liam Plunkett with another slower ball.
Earlier, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood put England on course for a face-saving draw on the final morning. They carried their third-wicket stand to 171 and Bell was within touching distance of his third Test century. But Pakistan will feel hard done by that they haven’t managed to break the stand after both batsmen survived close lbw appeals. Danish Kaneria had a close shout against Bell with his first ball of the day then Mohammad Sami had an even closer appeal turned down against Collingwood, when the ball struck the pad in front of middle before hitting the bat.
However, apart from those two moments both players batted with relative ease during a morning session that has suffered from a lack of intensity. Pakistan know their main objective, a series win, has been achieved while England are just going about a professional job of trying to bat out the day.
Collingwood brought up his second fifty of the match from 121 balls and he was immediately into his stride with a forcing square drive if the first over. Bell played within himself, adding just six to his total during the first hour. However, as lunch approached, he latched onto a few short balls from the pacemen, as the old ball ballooned off the pitch, and became England’s leading run scorer in the series. For Collingwood this innings is rapidly turning into a second chance for a first Test ton following his near-miss on the second day.
Inzamam-ul-Haq tried all his options but there is very little help from the benign surface and the bowlers didn’t quite hit their straps. Kaneria was too quick to slot into a defensive line around the wicket despite clearly not being as comfortable with that method of attack. Since he was warned for his follow-through, from over the wicket, by Darrell Hair in Faisalabad, he has lost some confidence and his effectiveness has diminished. Rana Naved-ul-Hasan bowled an impressive spell with the old ball, producing the one delivery that moved of the straight all session when he beat Bell neck and crop. Shoaib Akhtar then fired a warning to England about what is to come, with the new ball during the afternoon, by cracking Collingwood on the arm and Bell on the gloves in the last over before lunch.
but is was impressive turn around after the lunch that stunned Engalnd, and the Ashes winners truned into crashers in no time.
Mohammad Yousaf was declared man of the match while Inzamam ul Haq, the skipper of Pakistan side was named man of the series for his brilliant batting performace through out the test series. —Agencies