Giddins applies the brakes

Cricket

Karachi Combined XI 204 England A 47-0

England A produced another competent day in the field against a Combined XI at the Defence Stadium in Karachi. Losing the toss, they did well to restrict their hastily assembled opponents to 204.

Ian Salisbury led the way with the early wicket of the in-form Shahid Anwar. Although Salisbury finished with 4 for 72, the pick of the bowlers was Ed Giddins, who impressed with his accuracy and control, taking a wicket in each of his three spells.

Giddins made the first breakthrough when he bowled Mohammad Ramzan after half an hour. Shoaib Mohammad, tipped to join the Pakistan Test team in Australia in place of the ailing Saeed Anwar, did his chances no harm with a mature 40 which steadied the innings.

He put on 83 for the third wicket with Azam Khan, and Mahmood Hamid, a promising middle-order batsman, hit 30 off 54 balls, but the rest of the innings folded tamely.

(First day of four; Combined XI won toss)

COMBINED XI - First Innings

Mohammad Ramzan b Giddins 3

Shahid Anwar c Pooley b Salisbury 15

*Shoaib Mohammad c Piper b Giddins 40

Azam Khan c Knight b Udal 55

Sohail Jaffar c McGrath b Irani 19

Mahmood Hamid c Knight b Salisbury 30

Wasim Yousufi c Salisbury b Giddins 1

Nadeem Khan c Piper b Irani 10

Shahid Khan c Irani b Salisbury 11

Athar Laeeq not out 4

Taufiq Bader c & b Salisbury 0

Extras (b2, lb10, nb4) 16

Total (68 overs) 204

Fall: 1-17, 2-25, 3-108, 4-140, 5-146, 6-165, 7-188, 8-188, 9-201.

Bowling: Giddins 15-6-27-3; Smith 3.1-1-7-0; Irani 10.5-1-43-2; Salisbury 23-3-72-4; Udal 14-4-38-1; McGrath 2-0-5-0

ENGLAND A - First Innings

N V Knight not out 20

A McGrath not out 25

Extras (nb2) 2

Total (for 0, 19 overs) 47

To bat: *N Hussain, D P Ostler, J C Pooley, R C Irani, K J Piper, I D K Salisbury, S D Udal, A M Smith, E S H Giddins.

Bowling: Athar Laeeq 5-3-4-0; Taufiq Bader 4-1-12-0; Shahid Khan 3-0-9-0; Nadeem Khan 5-1-16-0; Shoaib Mohammad 2-0-6-0.

Umpires: Salim Badar and Islam Khan.