Flintoff and Thorpe steal England win

There were some boos - presumably aimed at Stewart - from supporters among a capacity crowd of 40,000 and match referee Barry Jarman of Australia may want to review the whole incident later tonight.

Unlike the Tests, both umpires in one-day internationals are supplied by the home country. And, unlike some decisions which went against England on their last senior tour of Pakistan 13 years ago, Riazuddin's verdict was perfectly understandable - and perhaps right. Even so, it was an unfortu-nate start to this high-profile trip - and did nothing to improve England's slim chances of victory.

Pakistan's total of 304 for nine included several little gems, a rock solid contribution of 71 by Inzamam-ul-Haq - and a real sparkler from Abdur Razzaq. Coming in at No6, he made a nonsense of England's earlier fightback by crashing 75 runs off just 40 balls.

Given another glorious pitch and a lightning fast outfield, no target could be said to be out of reach. But England needed a good start - and got just the opposite.

Stewart's exit to the fourth ball of the first over was followed all too soon by Marcus Trescothick's departure. The left-hander skyed a simple catch after top-edging an attempted pull against Waqar Younis with the total only 13.

Talk about a game of two halves - Pakistan's innings had been split into three distinct parts. They scored 92 runs in the first 15 overs with Saeed Anwar leading the way.

Then England responded courageously, restricting them to 106 runs from the next 25 overs. But the final chapter was a real blockbuster - thanks principally to Razzaq.

Hitting the ball ferociously hard and, more of then than not, straight back past the bowler, Pakistan's young all-rounder supervised an onslaught that saw 106 runs taken from the last 10 overs.

Apart from a poor start, when Andrew Caddick and Darren Gough helped to put the home side on their way, England did not do a lot wrong. But they simply couldn't stop Razzaq with Gough, Craig White and Mark Ealham all suffering heavy punishment.

The tourists were rocked early on by Anwar in particular.

You could almost hear their collective "phew" when White had the dashing left-hander caught behind while trying to angle a ball to third man. Then Ealham removed Salim Elahi with the help of more smart work from keeper Stewart.

It was a good sign that England had refused to buckle under pressure - and no real surprise when Ealham proved instrumental in the fightback by conceding just 18 runs during a splendid seven-over spell.

But Inzamam and Yousuf Youhana simply waited for easier pickings against Ashley Giles and Trescothick. Their fourth wicket stand was worth exactly 100 when Gough returned to have Youhana caught behind and, once again, Nasser Hussain needed the bonus which Inzamam provided by scooping Ealham to square leg.

There was still plenty more to come from Pakistan, however. Razzaq struck three sixes and five fours, captain Moin provided typically belligerent if brief support as the home side passed 300.

International cricket umpire Javed Akhtar filed a £1.2 million defamation suit against South African cricket board managing director Ali Bacher today. Bacher had accused Akhtar of taking bribes to fix a 1998 Test match between England and South Africa at Headingley.