BBC SPORT | Special Events | 2001 | England v Pakistan

One day match, Leicester: Pakistan 228-3 (42.4 overs) beat Leicestershire 225-7 (50 overs) by 7 wickets

Shoaib Akhtar and Salim Elahi shared the limelight as Pakistan bounced back from their defeat in the first Test with victory over an under-strength Leicestershire side.

Fast bowler Akhtar took four for 37 and Elahi helped himself to an unbeaten 108 to see them home with more than seven overs to spare.

Ben Smith made an excellent 105 off 116 balls for the county side, sharing stand of 65 with Darren Maddy and 108 with Iain Sutcliffe.

But despite the boost of an early wicket, their inexperienced bowling attack was unable to contain Elahi, whose innings was the ideal tonic after he bagged a pair at Lord's.

After fielding five seamers against England, the tourists went into the game with only two but Akhtar soon made inroads into Leicestershire's top order, while new ball partner Azhar Mahmood concentrated on accuracy.

Salim Elahi
Elahi forces the ball away off the back foot

Akhtar's fourth delivery uprooted Jon Dakin's middle stump and he followed that with the wickets of Darren Stevens and Trevor Ward to reduce the home side to 30 for three.

Leicestershire found scoring easier when the support bowlers came into the attack and Maddy hustled his way to 40 off only 44 balls before being trapped lbw by leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed.

Acting skipper Smith played some excellent strokes on both sides of the wicket to reach his fifty off 74 balls and then accelerated with Sutcliffe providing determined support.

Their stand was eventually broken when Akhtar returned to the attack and bowled Sutcliffe for 46, but Smith reached three figures with a straight drive before top edging an attempted sweep off Saqlain Mushtaq.

Pakistan's hopes of a good start to their innings were dashed when Imran Farhat edged a ball from left-armer Matthew Whiley and was caught behind by Simon Adshead for seven.

But Whiley proved expensive thereafter, conceding 68 from his 10 overs, as Elahi and Faisal Iqbal shared a second wicket stand of 86 before the latter was dismissed by Dakin for 26.

Yousuf Youhana looked more like his old self in making 40 off 59 balls but was unable to keep Elahi company until the end as he was caught off Stevens with his side 20 short of their target.

Younis Khan was in no mood to hang around, however, and raced to 15 not out as Pakistan clinched a comfortable win.

Leicestershire: J M Dakin, D I Stevens, T R Ward, B F Smith (Capt) D L Maddy, A S Wright, I J Sutcliffe, S J Adshead (Wkt), C D Crowe S A J Boswell, M J A Whiley.
Pakistan: Faisal Iqbal, Saleem Elahi, Younis Khan, Imran Farhat Yousuf Youhana, Azhar Mahmood, Rashid Latif (Capt, Wkt) Mushtaq Ahmed, Mohammad Wasim, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Akhtar.