Pakistan edge out Somerset

Shahzaib: Century proved decisive

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Pakistan temporarily put their off-field troubles behind them to scrape an eight-run win against Somerset in their 50-over warm-up match.

With Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir dominating the headlines after protesting they were not guilty of 'spot fixing' allegations in London, the tour continued at a sunny Taunton.

With that trio now out of the Twenty20 and one-day series with England, the tourists had to make do with a depleted squad that threatened to be reduced further after two injuries on Thursday.

Key batsman Umar Akmal was struck in the face through his grill and was ruled out of the contest while Abdul Razzaq was unable to bowl after picking up a back problem.

In their absence Shahzaib Hasan provided the fireworks, making an impressive 105, with Fawad Alam's 97 providing the majority of the support as the tourists set a target of 265.

Unbeaten

Zander de Bruyn then hit an unbeaten 122 in reply but the hosts' lower order could not carry them to victory in the closing stages of a tightly-fought contest.

Pakistan were put in to bat after losing the toss and were quickly in trouble as Mohammad Hafeez and Azhar Ali both fell to Mark Turner (3-52) for ducks in the fourth over.

Mohammad Yousuf (26) steadied the ship somewhat before being run out by home skipper Peter Trego to take the score to 42-3.

That brought Alam to the crease and the tourists then managed to take control as he put on a mammoth fourth-wicket stand of 169 with Shahzaib.

But once those two were finally dismissed, there was little else of substance from the rest of the order, with Kamran Akmal's unbeaten 12 the only other score in double figures.

Lower order

Lewis Gregory mopped up the lower order to finish as the pick of the bowlers with 4-49 as Pakistan were all out for 264 with 15 balls remaining.

Somerset lost England international Craig Kieswetter (five) early in their chase but de Bruyn combined with Nick Compton to keep their hopes alive.

The pair put on 90 for the second wicket before Compton was dismissed by Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi (2-47) for 50 and James Hildreth added a useful 31 before giving a return catch to the same bowler.

But Somerset failed to build from there with Trego (16) and Arul Suppiah (13) the top scorers from then on as de Bruyn failed to find the support that could have proved decisive.

Saeed Ajmal and Umar Gul both claimed three wickets each as the hosts reached 256-9 from their 50 overs.