Iftikhar, Rizwan press claims for Test spot

WORCESTER: Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan pressed their claims for a spot in Pakistan’s playing eleven in the third Test against England as Pakistanis declared their innings against Worcestershire on the first day of their two-day game here on Friday.

Iftikhar and Rizwan were not out on 41 and 49, respectively, when skipper Azhar Ali declared the innings at 261 for three.

Iftikhar hit two fours and a six off 68 balls, while Rizwan cracked five boundaries in his 67-ball knock.

Pakistan’s batting invited a lot of criticism when they lost the second Test against England at Old Trafford by 330 runs.

Only one fifty was scored from Pakistan in the entire match — Misbah-ul-Haq’s 52 in the first innings — on a pitch where Englishmen scored one double century, one century and four fifties.

The poor show has forced the management to consider changes in the batting line for the third Test.

Earlier, Azhar (81) and Shan Masood (67) scored 124 for the second wicket after the fall of Sami Aslam for 17.

Shan struck six fours in his 149-ball innings, while Azhar hit ten boundaries and a six off 140 balls.

Worcestershire were 30 without a loss when bails were drawn.

Score Board

Worcestershire won toss

Pakistanis 1st innings

Shan Masood c Clarke b Kervezee   67

Sami Aslam c Kohler-Cadmore b Hepburn    17

*Azhar Ali b Barnard  81

Iftikhar Ahmed not out        41

†M Rizwan not out    49

Extras (b 5, lb 1)      6

Total (3 wickets dec; 80 overs)      261

Did not bat: Asad Shafiq, Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, Rahat Ali, Imran Khan

Fall: 1-33, 2-157, 3-181

Bowling: Barnard 15-3-30-1; Morris 10-4-19-0; Hepburn 15-4-49-1; Shantry 10-2-30-0; Rhodes 24-2-89-0; Kervezee 6-0-38-1

Worcestershire 1st innings

*D K H Mitchell not out        14

T C Fell not out        14

Extras (b 1, lb 1)      2

Total (0 wickets; 11 overs)  30

To bat: †J M Clarke, A N Kervezee, T Kohler-Cadmore, R A Whiteley, G H Rhodes, E G Barnard, A Hepburn, J D Shantry, C A J Morris

Bowling: Imran 6-1-13-0; Sohail 4-0-14-0; Zulfiqar 1-0-1-0

Umpires: M J Saggers and C M Watts