Bazid leads Pak A to narrow win over England
Bureau Report

LAHORE—Youthful Pakistan A scored a thrilling one wicket win over England in a one-day warm up match to add to the worries of the touring side ahead of the five match one-day series here at Bagh-e-Jinnah ground on Wednesday. Pak A surprised the much confident English side by bravely chasing a 237 runs target making 239 for 9 in 44.5 overs after restricting the opponents at 236 for 7 in allotted 45 overs on a placid wicket. The home side raced through the win with one ball remaining as Bazid Khan struck two successive boundaries to medium pacer James Anderson as they needed 10 runs in the last over.
Even the dismissal of Tahir Khan runout (10) in the last over could not shake the confidence of the Pak A which remained in right direction knowing it has limited choice as fewer deliveries were left. Top scorer Bazid who remained unbeaten with responsible and solid (90) led a fight back, taking part in two major partnerships before home captain and all rounder Abdul Razzaq won the toss and elected to bat.
Bazid who has now emerged as a strong candidate for getting a place in the one-day matches associated half century maker Rafatullah (55 with four boundaries) for the third wicket partnership of 60 runs lifting the side out of early danger of 15 for 1 and 62 for 2. Bazid whose patient knock was a treat of watch he stroked two sixes and five fours in 88 balls off 135 minutes joined Faisal Iqbal (31 with four fours) to produce 55 runs for the 5th wicket and England found it hard to stop the flow of runs set by the chief scorer.
As wickets fell and the fate of the game swinging either ways,Bazid put his head down and utilised loose deliveries to hit boundaries besides taking useful singles and doubles, keeping the side in chase of target. Anderson who got maximum punishment in the finals overs, took four wickets for 46 runs in 8.2 overs while medium pacers duo of Liam Pulunkett and Paul Collingwood took two wickets each for 43 and 36 runs.
Earlier, England A were supported by Collingwood and Matthew Prior who stroked brilliant half centuries to lead the side to a decent total. Chief scorer Collingwood (75) remained unbeaten after hitting a fine knock which contained 7 fours in 79 minutes off 90 balls before his side lost of the second top scorer Prior (72) caught at fine short leg by Imran Tahir while attempting a reverse sweep off the bowling of off spinner Tahir Khan.
Prior and Vikram Solanki (26) shared 74 runs for the 2nd wicket helping the side to repair the early loss which left them at 21 for 1. Piror cracked a dozen of boundaries and faced 84 balls in 119 minutes and Solanki caught by Tahir Khan off Razzaq forced six fours. Pace man Rao Iftikhar took two wickets for 36 runs in 8 overs and Tahir snapped up two wickets for 38 runs in 7overs. England will play their first two one-day international matches here at Gadaffi stadium on December 10 and 12.