Confidence Boost For Pakistan

Having scraped a one-wicket win over Scotland and losing to Essex in their earlier warm-up games, the tourists moved up a gear with the bat and piled up 298 for seven in 50 overs.

Northants fell well short on 236 all out in reply, with only David Sales - who was last out for a stylish 104 off 109 balls - offering any prolonged resistance.

Openers Imran Nazir (66) and Mohammad Hafeez (38) gave Pakistan a purposeful start after Rashid Latif won the toss and opted to bat first on a typically easy-paced Wantage Road pitch.

The pair posted 116 in 18 overs, Imran cracking a six and 12 fours in a sparkling 63-ball knock, and although both men departed in the space of three overs the momentum picked up again through Younis Khan (69) and Yasir Hameed (62) who shared a third-wicket stand worth 126.

Younis brought up his fifty with a magnificent pull for six off Carl Greenidge and Pakistan looked set for a total well in excess of 300 until a flurry of wickets saw them decline from 252 for two to 274 for six.

Australian paceman Damien Wright, signed by Northants to replace South Africa's Andre Nel during the forthcoming NatWest Series, marked his county debut with the wicket of Shoaib Akhtar, but Misbah-ul-Haq rounded off the innings in style with a huge six off Mike Cawdron in the final over.

Northants needed a solid start to their reply but were denied it by Mohammad Sami, who accounted for openers Mike Hussey and Mark Powell during a pacy six-over spell with the new ball.

When Phil Jaques top-edged a pull off Umar Gul to deep square leg the home side were in trouble at 47 for three, only for Sales and Jeff Cook (45) to engineer a recovery by adding 106 in 19 overs.

Pakistan's relatively inexperienced attack looked to be running out of ideas, but Shoaib Malik came to the rescue by bowling Cook before Umar removed Graeme Swann and Toby Bailey with successive balls to kill off the Northants challenge.

The only issue then was whether Sales could complete his century, and he did so with his third six - a hook off a Sami no-ball - with last man Greenidge for company.

Discuss it on the message board!