Cricket: Brilliant Hollioake leads from front

England 264-9

Pakistan A 229

England win by 35 runs

Adam Hollioake led from the front, scoring 86 and taking 2 for 38 as England beat Pakistan A by 35 runs in Lahore yesterday.

Hollioake's brilliant innings from 99 balls was the centre-piece of England's 50-over total of 264 for 9. He then took two important wickets with his medium pace to stamp his authority on his new position as England's one- day captain.

Graeme Hick also impressed with 50, Matthew Fleming made an invaluable 29 not out at the end, and the Warwickshire all-rounder Dougie Brown included two important new-ball wickets in an eventual analysis of 4 for 58.

Dean Headley and Mark Ealham also contributed good bowling stints and Pakistan A were eventually dismissed for 229 in the 49th over.

The Pakistani side were led by the former Hampshire fast bowler, Aqib Javed, who failed to take a wicket in his eight overs. Yesterday's game was the first of two matches against Pakistan A which have been organised to provide match practise before the four-nation Champions' Trophy tournament, which starts in Sharjah next week.

Meanwhile, England's chairman of selectors, David Graveney, said yesterday that the first-class counties' refusal to give him total control of international players was "not a big issue."

Graveney, who is here in Pakistan as the manager of England's one-day squad, was reacting to the 10-8 first-class forum vote against the proposal at Lord's on Thursday.

Graveney said: "I can see the arguments for making it official for the selectors to be able to withdraw players from county games if they feel they need a rest.

"But I don't see this as a major issue as long as the counties appreciate that sometimes players do need time off - and that we have a very busy international schedule over the next 18 months.

"Last summer we had a gentleman's agreement that any requests from us would be considered sympathetically, and as far as I am concerned it worked well. I certainly didn't have any refusals.

"I think it's important at the moment to stress that there is no perceived conflict here. We are more concerned with how England perform, and every international match is important."

Pakistan A won toss

ENGLAND

A D Brown c Shahid Nazir b Naeem 31

A J Stewart c Shahid Nazir b Naeem 22

B C Hollioake c Shahid Nazir b Fazle 4

G A Hick b Shahid Afridi 50

G P Thorpe b Fazle Akbar 0

*A J Hollioake lbw b Fazle Akbar 86

M A Ealham b Shahid Afridi 0

D R Brown run out 8

M V Fleming not out 29

A F Giles b Fazle Akbar 4

D W Headley not out 2

Extras (lb9, w15, nb4) 28

Total (for 9, 50 overs) 264

Fall: 1-49, 2-65, 3-65, 4-65, 5-170, 6-172, 7-196, 8-234, 9-252.

Bowling: Shahid Nazir 8-0-52-0; Aqib Javed 8-1-45-0; Naeem Ashraf 6-0- 31-2; Fazle Akbar 8-0-40-4; Arshad Khan 10-1-39-0; Shahid Afridi 10-0- 48-2.

PAKISTAN A

Shahid Afridi lbw b D Brown 14

Muhammad Ramzan lbw b D Brown 16

Babar Zaman c & b Giles 15

Akhtar Sarfraz c Thorpe b Ealham 69

Yousaf Youhana st Stewart b Hollioake 35

Naeem Ashraf not out 38

Wasim Yousafi c A Brown b Hollioake 4

Shahid Nazir b Ealham 16

Arshad Khan c & b D Brown 6

*Aqib Javed b D Brown 6

Fazl-i-Akbar c Stewart b Headley 1

Extras (b2, lb3, w3, nb1) 9

Total (48.1 overs) 229

Fall: 1-24, 2-40, 3-73, 4-137, 5-167, 6-178, 7-204, 8-219, 9-228.

Bowling: Headley 9.1-0-29-1; D Brown 10-1-58-4; Fleming 5-1-22-0; Giles 6-0-30-1; Ealham 10-0-47-2; Hollioake 8-0-38-2.

Umpires: Javed Akhtar and Nazir Junior.