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After that, England knew they had to win but seemed unsure how to take the 20 wickets needed to accomplish it.Confused, they were forced to mix cod kidology (in the hope of getting green wickets) with a bowling attack who were never sure what to believe as much desired continuity was jettisoned in favour of the “one-off” selection.The batting, so sure and certain at Headingley, showed its customary fragility here once Atherton had gone, second out, to a sharp pad-bat catch at silly point. In a way, that was the crucial blow, devastatingly struck and immaculately timed in terms of the strategy and psychology of a three-match series. Every time they convince themselves that things are getting better, along comes a team whose consummate skill and aggression reminds them, that at best, things have only really remained static. As it was, Wasim’s three late wickets propelled him into the 300 club in his 70th Test, the 11th Test player to achieve this benchmark of true greatness.Poor England. This is the fifth successive series Pakistan have won against England, a record stretching back to 1982. His 6 for 78 came from an unbroken spell of 30 overs from the Vauxhall End, a performance that earned him the man-of-the-match award and one that raised his haul of 17 wickets in the series and 45 in his last six Tests.Indeed, so complete was Mushtaq’s mastery that until Waqar’s dismissal of Chris Lewis – the batsman was unsurprisingly late getting his bat down on an inswinger – the leg-spinner appeared to be heading towards bagging all 10.

Alan Mullally apart, none of England’s bowlers in this series pitched a consistent length and line.Another lesson – an increased resilience among the batsmen – was thought to have been learned. Against predictable bowling attacks that may be the case, but against a combination as inventive and confrontational as this, England looked as fragile as ever once the pressure began to grow fangs and Mushtaq’s leg-spin began to bite.The Sultan of Sahiwal is not too grand a title for this diminutive wizard of wrist-spin. A 2-0 defeat against Wasim Akram’s talented side would not ordinarily be a humiliating result over a five-match series, but over three it represents a sound thrashing and one the home side and their coach, David Lloyd, must learn from.
One of the lessons is that England need to find a bowling attack capable of taking wickets, or at least putting opposition batsmen under pressure. The problem arose because the match was selected as the day’s televised live game, forcing it to be put back three hours from the usual kick-off time.. England 326 and 242 Pakistan 521-8 dec and 48-1 Pakistan win by nine wickets

England brought both an expectant summer and the Illingworth era to a painful and unsatisfactory end in the Third Test at The Oval yesterday.

Idalecio equalised for Braga with a header two minutes later.In Brazil, two players left a championship match early on Sunday because they had to catch a plane to Russia to play with the national team.Andre, the Sao Paulo midfielder, and Narciso, the Santos defender were both substituted during their teams’ game, taken to Sao Paulo airport and flown to Rio de Janeiro in a private jet to join the national squad for the journey to Moscow. In the 30th minute they also lost their key midfielder Valdo, who suffered a knee injury.Benfica finally scored in the 81st minute with a penalty taken by Helder after Luis Baltasar tripped up Joao Pinto. Conde scored his second goal in the 70th minute.Benfica were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Braga, despite the visitors being reduced to 10 men in the 54th minute after Rodrigo Carneiro was sent off for a second bookable offence.Benfica dominated the game but their lack of a first-class striker was apparent throughout. He redeemed himself by scoring the equaliser just into extra time.Setubal, who mounted skilful counter-attacks throughout the game, scored their first goal in the 16th minute, when the unmarked Chiquinho Conde squeezed a shot past Porto’s new goalkeeper, Andrzej Wozniak. The goal came after a string of wasted opportunities, including Domingos Oliveira missing a penalty in the 60th minute. It was just reward for Fiorentina, who looked by far the more impressive team.George Weah missed a good opportunity for Milan in the first half, but otherwise looked a little rusty.

Roberto Baggio did not play due to an injury and Edgar Davids, Milan’s new signing, came on in the second half as substitute but made little impact.In Portugal, Porto, the champions, kicked off the season with a disappointing 2-2 home draw against Setubal and were lucky to get a late equaliser.Porto, who are aiming for their third consecutive title this season, were 2-0 down until the 86th minute, when Mario Jardel scored with a header. Stefan Schwarz picked him out with a lob to the edge of the box and the Argentine striker did the rest, chipping the veteran defender Franco Baresi and scoring at the near post.Dejan Savicevic equalised for Milan in the 21st minute, weaving past a defender, checking and hitting a left-footed shot that gave Francesco Toldo, the young Fiorentina goalkeeper, little chance.The score stayed level until the 83rd minute, but with a penalty shoot- out looming, Batistuta took charge.Marcel Desailly fouled Batistuta, who scored from the free-kick with a shot from 30 yards out which curled over the defence and dipped in under the bar. Gabriel Batistuta gave Fiorentina the perfect 70th birthday present on Sunday with two goals that gave the Italian Cup winners a 2- 1 victory over Milan, the Serie A champions, in the Super Cup. The victory, coming on the eve of the anniversary of the club’s foundation in 1926, also marked the first time since the pre-season competition between the Cup winners and the League champions was started in 1988 that the Cup winners had won.
Batistuta gave Fiorentina the lead in the 11th minute. It is to be hoped that a leg injury does not prevent him from competing against Henman in a first-round match that may contribute to the young Briton’s education.. He won three of the four Grand Slam singles titles (Wimbledon eluded him, as ever) and the Swede’s US Open triumph against Ivan Lendl elevated him to world No 1.After that, Wilander’s brilliant career went into decline, but he continues to campaign, aged 32 and ranked No 174. That was three decades before the serious business of international tennis took hold of the place with the transfer of the US Open from Forest Hills.The fresh face of Britain’s Tim Henman was to be found among 50 of the world’s leading players the other day when the ATP Tour warned the US Open – and the three other Grand Slam championships – that it expects seedings to adhere to rankings in future.Back in 1988, Mats Wilander was a leading ATP spokesman against the tennis establishement at what was tantamount to a strike meeting in the park at Flushing Meadows, a major development which led to the breakaway ATP tour in 1990.Wilander did a lot more than talk in in 1988.

Martina Hingis opened proceedings on the Stadium Court, defeating Angeles Montolio, of Spain, 6-1, 6-0 in a hour.Militancy seems to go with the territory here at Flushing Meadows, which experienced many a chill from the Cold War during its time as the temporary headquarters of the United Nations. Haas saw that his opponent was vulnerable, but experience told at the finish.The first seed to fall was in the women’s singles, Bulgaria’s Magdalena Maleeva, No 12, losing to the 110th-ranked Aleksandra Olsza, of Poland, 6-4, 6-4. He lost to the best – Pete Sampras.Born in Munich, Haas is based at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida. “I believe Tommy has the potential to be as good as, or better than, any player ever to come out of the academy – and that inludes Andre Agassi,” Bollettieri said.Stich, the runner-up to Agassi here in 1994 and a finalist at this year’s French Open, has lost in the opening round of Grand Slam championships on six occasions. He led 2-0 in the fourth set, only for Stich to recover his form, forget a sore shoulder, and win 6-3, 1-6, 6-1, 7- 5.Only a fortnight ago, Haas reached the quarter-finals of his first professional tournament, having been given a wild card for the ATP Tour event in Indianapolis. Michael Stich, who would have been among the seeds had not the US Tennis Association been reminded of the Grand Slam rules, advanced to the second round after a difficult match against Tommy Haas, an 18-year-old German compatriot.
Haas, a qualifier ranked No 237 in the world, made an impressive start to his Grand Slam career.