- REUTERS
England's Andrew Flintoff (left) is bowled by Pakistan's Danish Kaneria (not pictured) as Kamran Akmal (right) and Hasan Raza (centre) watch on the fifth day of the third Test in Lahore yesterday.
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP):
FAST BOWLER Shoaib Akhtar and legspinner Danish Kaneria spurred Pakistan to an innings and 100-run victory yesterday as England collapsed to 248 on the last day of the third Test and lost their first series in two years.
In a dramatic downfall, England lost eight wickets for 43 runs in just over an hour after Ian Bell (92) and Paul Collingwood (80) had combined in a stand of 175 runs and took the total to 201 for two at lunch.
"It was a tremendous team effort, it's difficult to single out one player," said Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, who top scored in the 2-0 series victory with 431 runs.
"But the (Pakistan) bowlers deserve to take credit as they put in lot of hard work on the batting wickets," he added.
A MAMMOTH LEAD
Pakistan won the first Test by 22 runs before England escaped with a draw in the second Test at Faisalabad. In the final Test, Pakistan got a mammoth lead of 348 runs after they declared their first innings at 636 for eight in reply to England's first innings effort of 248.
Kaneria (4-52) ignited the slide with three wickets in five balls and Akhtar (5-71) won three lbw decisions off his cleverly bowled slow deliveries.
"Pakistan deserved to win," said England's Ashes-winning captain Michael Vaughan. "Shoaib and Kaneria got crucial wickets after Paul and Ian batted very well.
"They were the better side in all the three Test matches because of Kaneria and Shoaib. We got a chance in Multan but we couldn't win it," he added.
Collingwood, who hit his second half century of the match, including 12 boundaries, edged Kaneria's leg-break to the slips in the first over after lunch.
In the next over, the tall Pakistani legspinner cleaned up England big-guns Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff off successive deliveries with the latter deceived by a first ball googly.
Geraint Jones was lucky to survive the hat-trick ball before Akhtar foxed Bell with a slow delivery and England lost four wickets in the space of 17 balls after lunch, slipping from 201-2 to 212-6.
Jones was subsequently ruled out lbw by South African umpire Rudi Koertzen, but television replays indicated that Akhtar's ball had taken an inside edge of the bat before striking the pads.
After Akhtar had Liam Plunkett lbw and Mohammad Sami induced a big edge off Shaun Udal (25), Kaneria wrapped up the match when he clean bowled Matthew Hoggard.
Kaneria bowled an unchanged spell of 12 overs in the first session, but Bell and Collingwood kept their composure despite a ring of five close-in fielders around their bats.
Pakistan twice came near to getting the breakthrough before lunch. Kaneria's confident lbw appeal against Bell on his first ball of the day was turned down by Australian umpire Darrell Hair. Paceman Mohammad Sami struck Collingwood on the front pad - also in his first over - when the batsman was on 48, but could not convince Koertzen.
PADDED DELIVERIES
Kaneria even tried to make use of the bowler's rough and came round the wicket. However, Bell and Collingwood padded most of the deliveries that pitched outside leg stump.
The 2-0 defeat broke England's unbeaten record of six Test series since they last lost in Sri Lanka 1-0 in 2003. England won against West Indies (at home and away), New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh and this summer's 2-1 Ashes win against Australia at home.
Both teams will now play a five-match one-day international series which starts in Lahore on December 10.
"We would like to win the ODIs and need to learn lessons because we will play in similar conditions in February-March," Vaughan said.
England are scheduled to tour India for three Tests and five one-day internationals in late February.
Another day of rain in MadrasMADRAS, India (AP):
OVERNIGHT rain and a water-logged outfield washed out the second day's play yesterday in the opening Test between India and Sri Lanka.
Desperate ground-staff worked hard to salvage some cricket after heavy showers of rain caused by Cyclone Baaz in the Bay of Bengal washed out the first day's play on Friday, but the outfield remained slushy and risked injury to players.
Umpires Daryl Harper of Australia and Mark Benson from England carried out two inspections of the Chepauk ground before calling off the second day's play, to the embarrassment of officials who scheduled international games in the southern city of Madras during the rainy reason.
India captain Rahul Dravid and coach Greg Chappell inspected the ground in the afternoon, but the Sri Lankan team management didn't bother leaving its hotel.
Cricket matches in Madras have frequently been hit by rain, but this year the Indian cricket board again scheduled two international matches - a one-dayer and this Test - during the monsoon season that causes a wet spell in the region until the second week of December.
