LEICESTER, England, 16 June 2003 — Abdul Razzaq put himself in contention for a place in Pakistan’s team to face England tomorrow by grabbing four wickets in a five-wicket win over Leicestershire here on Saturday.

The Middlesex all-rounder was only called up by the tourists to replace injured opener Faisal Athar on Friday night and had to make a last-minute dash to Leicester after playing for his county in a 20-20 match at The Oval.

He justified the selectors’ faith in him by claiming four wickets as Leicestershire were restricted to 231 for seven from their 50 overs.

Paceman Shabbir Ahmed blotted his copybook with a 14-ball opening over which yielded nine runs in wides and three in no-balls. His opening two overs cost 23 and the hosts reached 50 in the ninth over, Virender Sehwag greeting Umar Gul with a classic off-drive down the ground.

Gul took revenge when he captured Sehwag’s wicket with an away swinger for the tourists’ first breakthrough and a steady trickle of wickets from then on kept the lid on Leicestershire’s run rate.

A stand of 51 for the opening wicket got Pakistan off to a positive start and they ultimately cruised home four overs and one ball to spare. Opener Mohammad Hafeez top-scored with 54.

Pakistan face England at Manchester on Tuesday in the first encounter of a three-match one-day series.

Vaughan Hails Debut Win as Perfect

Workout Ahead of Pakistan Clash

In Cardiff, England’s new one-day captain Michael Vaughan hailed a tough workout from Wales as ideal preparation for this week’s one-day series with Pakistan.

England survived a scare at the hands of Australian Test bowler Michael Kasprowicz before pulling through to win by eight runs against a side that had inflicted an eight-wicket defeat on their big-brother neighbors last summer.

“It was a tough game in front of a lively crowd and that is exactly what we are going to get on Tuesday night against a very good Pakistan side so this was the perfect preparation,” said Vaughan.

England face Pakistan at Old Trafford, Manchester tomorrow in the first leg of their three-match one-day series.

Vaughan’s side made 235-8 from their 50 overs before bowling out their hosts for 227 in 48.4 overs to secure a debut victory for the new captain.

A superb new-ball burst from Kasprowicz had left England reeling at 41 for four and raised hopes that Wales could be headed for a repeat of last season’s eight-wicket win over their neighbors.

But Yorkshire captain Anthony McGrath (50) and Marcus Trescothick (55) steadied the ship with a stand of 71 for the fifth wicket before Surrey all-rounder Rikki Clarke, with 46 off 47 balls, helped push England’s total to a respectable target.

Seamer David Harrison made the first breakthrough by winning a leg before appeal against Vikram Solanki in the sixth over. That was the cue for Kasprowicz, chosen for Wales as Glamorgan’s overseas player, to claim three wickets for two runs in 11 balls. Vaughan had won his first toss as captain but his luck did not last much longer — after making just two runs he was trapped leg before.