England to take on Patron's XI today

Rawalpindi, Oct 31: England take on Patron's XI comprising Pakistan hopefuls in the four-day match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium from Wednesday.

The four-dayer is one of the two games leading to the three- Test series against Pakistan which starts at Lahore from Nov 15. The second match will be played at Peshawar from Nov 8.

After a disappointing one-day series in which England failed to counter the brilliance of Pakistan spinners, the tourists will be hoping to gain some useful match practice against the slow bowlers in the two matches which could help them put up a better show in the longer version of the game.

But since there are no short-cuts, it might be asking for too much from the Englishmen to learn the art of countering the spinners and proper footwork to play their strokes in two weeks time. And for that, their own cricket board is to be blamed for not touring the subcontinent for the last eight years.

The tourists have been bolstered for the Test matches with the inclusion of Michael Atherton, Michael Vaughan, Dominic Cork, Ian Salisbury, Alex Tudor and stand-bye wicket-keeper Paul Nixon.

Barring Nixon, all the five are expected to figure in the fourdayer in an effort to make up for the lost time.

Although the visitors will name the team tomorrow morning, the two pacers Darren Gough and Andrew Caddick, allrounder Craig White and middle-order batsman Graham Thorpe might sit out.

The Patron's XI include some exciting young talent and include three Test rejects (Mohammad Wasim, Mohammad Naveed Ashraf and Mohammad Akram) and two internationals (Javed Qadeer and Imran Abbas).

Nevertheless, the centre of attraction would be 17-year-old Munir Ansari billed as Pakistani Muttiah Muralitharan because of his bowling action. The young lad shot into prominence in the Under-17 Asia Cup and finished as one of the most successful bowlers.

The other young man who should extract something out of this game is paceman Mohammad Sami who has been on a roll this season. Sami conceded 35 odd runs from his six overs against England in a one-day warmup.

The hosts, utilizing the home advantage, have prepared a green-top track which should help the seamers in the first session but is then expected to play friendly to the strokemakers.

England: Nasser Hussain (captain), Alec Stewart, Marcus Trescothick, Michael Atherton, Graeme Hick, Graham Thorpe, Michael Vaughan, Dominic Cork, Craig White, Ashley Giles, Ian Salisbury, Darren Gough, Andrew Caddick, Matthew Hoggard, Alex Tudor.

Patron's XI: Mohammad Wasim (captain), Mohammad Naveed Ashraf, Qaisar Abbas, Javed Qadeer, Imran Abbas, Mohammad Altaf, Mohammad Shafiq, Ali Raza, Kamran Ali, Mohammad Sami, Mohammad Akram, Munir Ansari, Rana Kausar Javed, Salman Shah.

Umpires: Z.I. Pasha and Kamal Merchant.

Match referee: Col Naushad Ali.