England record an 8-wicket win

England geared up for next week's first Test against Pakistan with a thumping eight-wicket victory over the NWFP Governor's XI with almost two sessions of play on the fourth and last day of the match at the Shahi Bagh Stadium here on Saturday.

The tourists, who also won the four-dayer at Rawalpindi by an innings at 27 runs, raced to the victory target of 80 in 17.2 overs some 20 minutes into the second session.

Earlier, the home team had resumed this morning at 115 of four and got dismissed for 170 after 82 minutes of batting.

England, in their run chase, spirited to 35 in eight overs before they suffered a double setback when Sheikhupura paceman Kashif Raza struck twice in three balls to get rid of Marcus Trescothick and Michael Atherton.

The NWFP Governor's XI might have added a consolation wicket of Michael Vaughan a little later but Taimoor Khan and Imran Farhat, standing in the first and second slip respectively, failed to judge the catch as the ball sped past them for a boundary.

Vaughan remained unbeaten on 19 while England skipper Nasser Hussain punished Kashif and Sajid Shah for bowling short of length by scoring a 28-ball 23 with three boundaries. Kashif, nevertheless, finished the match with decent figures of five for 104.

Kashif accounted for Trescothick who was acrobatically caught by Rashid Latif low in front of the first slip. Kashif then added the wicket of Atherton who failed with the bat for the third successive time. The former England captain gently guided a wide delivery into the hands of Taufiq Umar in gully.

Earlier, Andrew Caddick added the wicket of overnight batsman Akhtar Sarfaraz and leggie Ian Salisbury picked up two cheap wickets to allow the NWFP Governor's XI add almost run-a-minute 82 on the fourth morning.

Sarfaraz was brilliantly taken by Alec Stewart almost in front of the second slip while Salisbury got his name against the wicket-takers when he had Rashid Latif and Kashif Raza stumped. Both the batsmen tried to hit him out of the park to leave Stewart with easy opportunities.

If the NWFP Governor's XI look back at this match, they would rue dropped catches in England's first innings that allowed the tourists to take a 91-run first innings lead. Trescothick, who top scored with 93, was dropped when 38 while Atherton, Hussain, Thorpe and Stewart also benefited from fielding lapses. But for England, it can't be better time to go in the first Test against Pakistan which starts in Lahore from Wednesday (Nov 15). Two comprehensive victories in the first-class matches would surely help them lift their morale after surrendering a 1-0 lead in the one-day series to lose 2-1. Nevertheless, their only concern would be the lack luster performance of their spinners Salisbury and Ashley Giles.

England leave for Lahore on Saturday evening and after a Sunday off-day, train at the Gaddafi Stadium on Monday.