Pakistan win marred by brick-throwing incident

Pakistan beat Bangladesh by 72 runs on Thursday in the second one-day international, a match marred by an incident in which Shoaib Akhtar was struck on the head by a piece of brick thrown from the crowd.

Yousuf Youhana scored a career best 112 not out and Younis Khan (73) to help Pakistan score 281 for five from their 50 overs, with Bangladesh reaching 209 for eight in reply.

Shoaib, the Pakistan fast bowler, was not seriously injured after being hit by the missile, but was kept in hospital overnight. It was not clear whether he would play in the third and final game of the series in Dhaka on Friday.

A man was detained over the incident, which caused a 36-minute delay in the match.

The game was also held up for a further 12 minutes when Bangladesh were batting because of a power fluctuation that caused the floodlights to dim.

Set 282 to win Mehrab Hossain (21) and Mohammad Al-Sahriar added 59 runs for the second wicket after the hosts lost their first wicket with the total on 16.

Al-Sahriar (41) and Tushar Imran (65) then added 51 runs before Bangladesh began to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Imran hit six boundaries in his first one-day international half-century before he was caught by substitute Shoaib Malik off Saqlain Mushtaq.

Off-spinner Saqlain and leg-spinner Shahid Afridi were the pick of the Pakistani bowlers, taking three wickets each.

Afridi took 3-11 from seven overs, while Saqlain completed figures of 3-32 from 10 overs.

Earlier, Youhana and Younis added 135 in 23.4 overs for the fifth wicket after Pakistan had slumped to 48 for four.

After Younis was caught at long-on by Javed Omar off left-arm spinner Enamul Haque, Abdur Razzaq (48 not out) helped Youhana complete his fourth one-day century with the pair adding 98 from just 9.5 overs.

Youhana, who made his debut against Zimbabwe in Harare in 1997-98, struck 12 fours and two sixes off 108 balls while Razzaq faced 35 balls, including three fours and one six.

Bangladesh medium-pacer Mohammad Sharif troubled the Pakistani batsmen early, taking the wickets of Naveed Latif (10) and Afridi (four).

His first spell of five overs cost him only 14 runs, but after Inzamam-ul-Haq was out for three and Azhar Mahmud for 12 Younis and Youhana resurrected the innings and Sharif's 10 overs eventually cost 59 runs.

Bangladesh have now lost 14 consecutive one-day internationals since beating Pakistan at the 1999 World Cup.

Mail Cricket Editor