Pakistan, inspired by a second successive century by Kamran Akmal, crushed England by 165 runs in the third one-day internat-ional yesterday.
England, chasing a massive victory target of 354, were bowled out for 188 in 42 overs on the way to a record-equalling defeat which left them 2-1 down in the series.
Pakistan's victory was inspired by wicketkeeper Akmal who followed up his 102 in the second match at Lahore with a sparkling 109.
PHOTO: EPA
The opener's third one-day hundred, made from only 111 balls and including 12 fours, powered Pakistan to a mammoth 353 for six before a sellout crowd despite stringent security measures.
England are the first non-Asian team to play at the venue for five years because of security concerns.
England never recovered after Shoaib Akhtar ran out Matt Prior for two and in the next over seamer Rana Naved had Marcus Trescothick and Vikram Solanki caught in the slips for 32 and a duck.
PHOTO: AFP
Mohammad Sami reduced England to 79 for four by trapping Andrew Strauss lbw.
Andrew Flintoff struck three fours in one over from supersub Yasir Arafat and seven in his 36 from 41 balls but following his departure, bowled by Arafat, England crumbled quickly as spinners Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi shared five wickets.
England also lost to West Indies by 165 runs in 1992-1993, their biggest losing one-day margin in runs.
Hayden warns of proteas' attack
Australian opening batsman Matthew Hayden says the home side will be at its most vulnerable against South Africa on the pacy WACA pitch in the first Test beginning today.
Hayden, who has made four centuries and an unbeaten 87 in his past five Tests, says he rates the South African attack as equal if not better than the 1993-1994 lineup led by fast bowler Allan Donald and swing specialist Fanie De Villiers.
South Africa's Makhaya Ntini and Shaun Pollock are rated in the world's top seven bowlers by the International Cricket Council, while Hayden also rates Andre Nel highly.
"I think Shaun's bowling particularly well -- his record's just magnificent (377 wickets at 22.09)," Hayden said. "It's comparable to that of Glenn [McGrath] really in a lot of ways and does a similar sort of job as well."
Hayden said England allrounder Andrew Flintoff was the only other bowler apart from Nel who could go around the wicket and still swing the ball away to left-handed batsmen.
"Big Andre Nel can do that and do a very good job at that," Hayden said.
"The side that we struck -- Fanie De Villiers, Allan Donald, Brian McMillan and [Craig] Matthews -- through the early 90s was a very, very good attack. But I rate this one just as highly as that. We are going to have our work cut out for us," he said.
Australian captain Ricky Ponting said yesterday that fast bowler Nathan Bracken will start the Test ahead of Stuart Clark. Bracken performed well in his last Test appearance, helping Australia defeat the West Indies at the Gabba ground, and Clark will be 12th man in Perth.
Ponting said he expected South Africa to gamble on the fitness of star all-rounder Jacques Kallis, who has an elbow injury, when it finalizes its team this morning.
Shane Warne needs just two wickets in the Test to set another milestone. Already the world's leading wicket-taker with 645, Warne needs one more dismissal to equal the record in a calendar year of 85 set by Australian fast bowler Dennis Lillee in 1981.
Lillee's 1981 total included 85 wickets at an average of 20.95 runs in 13 matches from Test series against India, England, Pakistan and West Indies.
Warne has played 13 Tests so far this year, taking five wickets in the final Test against Pakistan beg-inning Jan. 2 in Sydney, 17 on a three-Test tour of New Zealand, 40 in the five-Test Ashes series, six in the Super Test against a World XI and 16 in the three-Test series against the West Indies.
South African captain Graeme Smith, meanwhile, says he is trying to stay out of the sledging controv-ersy involving the teams.
Smith, who upset the Australian players four years ago by complaining about their on-field verbal taunts, said yesterday his players were expecting to be abused by the crowd during the three-Test series.
"Those things [sledging] haven't been an issue for us from the start since we arrived here," Smith said. "We haven't made one comment about sledging."
Smith, an opening batsman who led his side to a 2-0 series win over the West Indies in the Caribbean earlier this year, says beating Australia means coming out on top in the "big pressure situations."
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