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Pakistan A beat England by 1 wicket
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December 07, 2005 19:52 IST

Bazid Khan stroked an unbeaten 90 runs to lead Pakistan 'A' to a one-wicket win over England [Images] in the final over of a one-day match at the Bagh-e-Jinnah on Wednesday.

Pakistan 'A' ended on 239 for nine in reply to England's 236 for seven in 45 overs, in which Paul Collingwood [Images] top-scored with 75 not out and Matthew Prior made 72.

James Anderson took three wickets for three runs in the 43rd over to leave the home side on 207 for eight, requiring 19 runs from 12 balls.

Anderson finished with four for 46 having triggered a mini collapse with Pakistan 'A' well placed on 215 for five. He bowled Yasir Arafat (six), Zulqarnain Haider (two) and Rao Iftikhar (0).

Bazid, the son of former Test captain Majid Khan, hit Anderson for two successive fours in the final over to complete the victory on the penultimate ball of the innings.

"It is disappointing to lose such a close game," said Andrew Strauss [Images], who was captaining England for the first time.

"We also lost the tour match before the start of the Test series and it didn't help us in our build-up."

England lost the Test series 2-0.

Marcus Trescothick [Images], Andrew Flintoff [Images] and Steve Harmison were rested and Strauss, who only returned to the squad on Tuesday night after flying to England for the birth of his son, said the side had missed the trio.

"It did make a difference because all three are our main players. They are experienced and play leading roles in one-day cricket."

Opener Strauss, who missed the third Test defeat, failed with the bat and was caught behind by Zulqarnain Haider for five off Riaz Afridi.

The match was England's only warm up game for the five-match one-day series against Pakistan, which starts on Saturday.

Bazid, who has played two one-day internationals and a Test, hit five fours and two sixes in his 88-ball knock.

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He put on 58 from 60 balls with Faisal Iqbal [Images] (31) for the fifth wicket, while opener Rafatullah Mohmand also scored 55.

Prior, England's reserve wicketkeeper, enhanced his chances of playing in the first one-day international by displaying good placement and power in his innings.

Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq [Images] led the local side in his first match in two months after he missed the Test series with an elbow injury.

"They lost the tour match at this venue and were defeated in the Test series. We already have a psychological edge over them and hopefully this victory will boost us further.

"Whatever the status of a match. England definitely would have liked to approach Saturday's game with a victory," he said

Razzaq, who took the wicket of Vikram Solanki, added that he had felt no pain in his elbow.




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