Hoggard stakes strongest claim for Test place

England's last match before the second Test, ended as a draw with another fine bowling performance led once again by Matthew Hoggard.

The Yorkshireman finished with match figures of eight for 30 from 22.3 overs and had bad light not brought an early end to the game, he may well have done even better. With this performance following his nine for 102 in Rawalpindi, before the first Test, he is pushing hard for a Test place next week.

Much will depend on the pitch in Faisalabad and if England should decide to play just one specialist spinner, then Hoggard, in his excellent current form, may well find himself included.

Having batted for a little over an hour after lunch on the third day, England declared on 237 for seven, taking a comfortable first-innings lead of 120.

Hoggard, who bowled brilliantly in the first-innings to finish with four for 13, claimed a wicket on the stroke of tea having Salman Butt caught at first slip for nine. Three overs earlier Alex Tudor had dismissed Mohammad Ramzan, caught behind. The batsman collected a ' pair ' in this match.

At tea the Pakistan Cricket Board X1 were 15 for two after 6.5 overs and lost two quick wickets at the start of the final session. Hasan Raza hooked his shot straight to long leg for a catch off Tudor and in the next over Hoggard had Bazid Khan caught at slip to reduce the Board X1 to 18 for four.

Some resistance then took the innings to 56 when two wickets went down. Hoggard removing them both in successive balls.

The total of 56 for six gave rise to hopes of England being able to force a victory. Although with no play having been possible on the second day owing to wet ground conditions, there seemed little likelihood of a result when play began today in this three-day match at the picturesque Bagh-e-Jinnah ground in Lahore.

But the Board X1 batted for a further half-hour, taking the total to 71, without further loss, when the umpires applied the light meter.

Earlier, England appeared to use the occasion for some useful batting practice in view of the second Test next week. Resuming their first innings on 76 for two, Marcus Trescothick and Alec Stewart, the two not out batsmen from the first day, scored at the rate of a run a minute in the first hour.

During that period Trescothick reached 50 having added 22 to his overnight score with the help of three boundaries, one of which was a powerful straight drive off pace bowler Stephen John who was the opposition's most successful bowler.

Having scored his half-century, Trescothick retired with a back twinge and in the next over the Board X1 claimed the wicket of Stewart for 47. John had him caught at first slip and England were 137 for three.

The same bowler, with his next ball, removed Andy Flintoff and then England lost two more wickets before lunch which was taken on 167 for six.

Michael Vaughan, struggling for form, had given a return catch to off spinner Shoaib Malik and five runs later on 158 the sixth wicket had fallen with Tudor being caught at long leg. He had mistimed his hook to a ball from John who eventually finished with four wickets in the innings.

England's declaration came at the fall of Ashley Giles' wicket for 28 after he had helped to put on 79 with Paul Nixon who remained unbeaten with 47 from 62 balls. He had played an entertaining innings which included two boundaries and a towering six over long-on.