CAPE TOWN — Pakistan's left-arm fast bowler Mohammad Irfan made a claim for a Test place and senior batsman Younus Khan played himself into form on the second and final day of a practice match against an Emerging Cape Cobras team at the Western Province Cricket Club Monday. Irfan followed up his first innings haul of four for 20 with three for 20 as the home side, comprising amateur players from the Western Cape franchise, was bowled out for 78. Set to make 59, the tourists romped to a ten-wicket win. They batted on until they reached 126 for one, enabling Younus Khan to score 74 not out after his first four innings on tour yielded only 34 runs. The second Test starts at Newlands Thursday. Rahat Ali was preferred to the tall Irfan for the third seamer's role in the first Test in Johannesburg, which South Africa won by 211 runs, but Ali did not take a wicket. Umar Gul and Junaid Khan, the two senior fast bowlers, were rested and Irfan's match haul of seven for 40 was easily the best return for the tourists in the practice match, with none of the other pace bowlers taking more than three wickets. Afghanistan falls in Pakistan tour opener Afghanistan's warm-up tour of Pakistan got off to a losing start Monday as it fell to an eight-wicket defeat at the hands of the hosts' second-string team. Pakistan 'A' bowlers, led by captain Shahid Afridi, bundled the Afghans out for a paltry 122 in 38.5 overs with the main resistance coming from Mohammad Shahzad who scored 33 and Javed Ahmadi who managed 23. Afridi, trying to regain some form after being dumped from Pakistan's one-day side, finished with 3-24 and Pakistan knocked off the required runs in just 16.1 overs with another one-day discard, Umar Akmal, scoring an unbeaten 47. Afghanistan is on a four-week tour of Pakistan to tune up for its two One-Day Internationals against Scotland in the United Arab Emirates next month before facing it again in the ICC World Cricket League Championship. — Agencies
