LAHORE, Nov 8: Following the knee injury to captain Michael Vaughan a day earlier, England suffered another demoralising blow on Tuesday when they lost the three-day warm-up game to Pakistan ‘A’ by six wickets at the Bagh-i-Jinnah.

Brilliant half-centuries by Hasan Raza, the Pakistan ‘A’ skipper and Shahid Yousuf, set up a splendid victory after 31 wickets fell on the first two days.

Chasing a somewhat challenging 245 in seaming conditions, Pakistan ‘A’ resumed at 31 for one and romped home five minutes before tea thanks to a 129-run fourth-wicket partnership between Hasan (71 not out) and Shahid (67).

Hasan, who is in the 16-man squad for Multan Test, commented that his knock had given a lot of confidence ahead of the Test series.

“My performance in this game was just the break I was hoping for. My confidence has certainly gone up.”

Imran Farhat (12) and Shahid Nazir, the night-watchman, started the proceeding with the home team still needing 214 for victory.

But the pair had put on 42, a sharp rising delivery from Steve Harmison hit Imran on the index finger of his left-hand and forcing him to leave the ground. Imran at that time was on 24 with the total being 69-1.

Shahid Nazir, the medium-pacer, surprised many with his ability to bat like a specialist batsman as he outscored new man Faisal Athar as the pair lifted the score to 98 for one before Flintoff ended Shahid’s belligerent knock by uprooting his off-stump.

Shahid Nazir hammered three fours besides striking one six each off Flintoff and off-spinner Shaun Udal in his 31-ball 43. Five runs later, Faisal was caught and bowled by Flintoff for eight after a stay of 42 minutes.

Hasan then joined Shahid Yousuf in that match-winning partnership.

The Pakistan ‘A’ captain launched his innings aggressively by opening his account with a towering six off Andrew Flintoff over mid-wicket before giving the same treatment to left-arm spinner Ashley Giles, this time over the long-off fence.

However, as his innings progressed, Hasan became settled down and together with Shahid carried the score to 153 for three at the lunch interval.

Flintoff, who captured all three wickets that fell on Tuesday, finally broke the partnership by trapping LBW Shahid with a full-pitched delivery. Shahid Yousuf’s 105-ball innings in 155 minutes that contained seven boundaries.

Imran, who required two stitches on his injured finger, returned to the crease and helped Hasan in finishing the game.

The left-hander had the satisfaction of scoring the winning runs with a well-timed square cut off Flintoff.

Imran remained unbeaten with a 40-ball 37, which included six hits to the fence. Hasan, on the other hand, laced his 104-ball innings with four boundaries and three sixes.

With several non-playing members of the England side practising at the Qadhafi Stadium, deputy coach Matthew Maynard was pressed into service as a substitute when Andrew Strauss came off the field for about 30 minutes.

All the England’s bowlers were treated harshly by home batsmen.

Flintoff conceded 67 runs in 10.2 overs while fellow paceman Mathew Hoggard gave away 50 runs off just eight overs.

SCOREBOARD