Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after MatthewHoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday

Samiul Hasan26-Nov-2000Lahore, Nov 25: The PCB XI narrowly escaped defeat after MatthewHoggard looked to steer England to an unlikely victory in the threedayer at the Bagh-e-Jinnah which ended in a draw on Saturday.Hoggard followed up his first innings effort of four for 13 with fourfor 17 as the PCB XI finished at 71 for six after England had declaredtheir first innings at 237 for seven to earn a first innings lead of120 runs.The second day of the match was washed out without a ball beingbowled. At stumps on the first day, England were 76 for two in replyto PCB XI’s 117.The home team had slumped to 18 for four in 10.4 overs before beingrescued by teenager Faisal Iqbal who celebrated his recall for theFaisalabad Test with a defiant unbeaten 27. He kept the one end intactduring his 103-minute innings during which he faced 70 balls aswickets fell around him.Hoggard, who has taken his tally of wickets to 17 in two matches, wasquick, accurate and deadly in his 11-over burst. After Alex Tudordismissed Mohammad Ramazan for his second duck of the match, Hoggardgot his acts together to dismiss Salman Butt, Bazid Khan, Shoaib Malikand Faisal Naveed.He was on a hat trick after accounting for Bazid and skipper Shoaiboff successive balls. But was denied by 17-year-old wicketkeeperKamran Akmal who finished the day at 10 not out. Nevertheless, despitea splendid performance, Hoggard received no good news from skipperNasser Hussain who didn’t guarantee him a place in the second Teststarting at Faisalabad from Nov 29.Hussain, who himself is struggling for form, said: “He has played justone Test match. We will see how things go because we have to see thepitch as well. “We got the warning in the one-dayers what lay aheadfor us,” he added with reference to the expected spinning pitch at theindustrial city of the country.Once again it were the out-swingers that carpeted the Pakistanhopefuls as five of the six batsmen were demised behind wickets. HasanRaza, world’s youngst Test player, was caught hooking Tudor.Earlier, England batted watchfully in an extended first session of theplay before accelerating the proceedings in the second half when theyscored run-a-minute 70 before declaring.Wicket-keeper Paul Nixon scored a 62-ball 47 not out with two foursand a six and Ashley Giles contributed 28 off 61 deliveries.Marcus Trescothick tuned up for the back-to-back Tests with 50 beforeretiring after a 125-ball innings that comprised six boundaries. AlecStewart scored 47 with eight fours and added 90 runs for the thirdwicket with the left-handed opener. But there was disappointment forTest aspirants Michael Vaughan and Andrew Flintoff. Vaughan, whomissed the first Test because of calf injury, spent just 32 minutes atthe crease while scoring four and Flintoff, who flew in as areplacement, lasted for just one delivery.Left-arm Islamabad pacer Stephen John was the most successful PCB XIbowler with figures of four for 73. He bowled well within hislimitations thought the grassy wicket at times tempted to put in extrawhich result in him becoming wayward.Test discard Fazl-i-Akbar finished with two for 91 – expensive figuresconsidering the seamer’s friendly surface.England leave for Faisalabad on Sunday morning where they will have atraining session later in the day.