CRICKET - RUN-OUT GIVES LEWIS AND ENGLAND SLIM SATISFACTION .
LONDON 1996-08-25
Chris Lewis did his best to forget his controversial omission from the England one-day squad on Sunday but could not prevent Pakistan reasserting their dominance in the final test at The Oval .
A super piece of fielding by Lewis , dropped as a disciplinary measure after arriving only 35 minutes before the start on the fourth morning , provided the only bright spot for England as the touring team batted on to reach 413 for five at the interval , a lead of 87 .
The solitary wicket to fall was Asif Mujtaba , run out for 13 attempting a second run to third man where Lewis was lurking with a point to prove .
There seemed scant danger until the Surrey player swooped on to the ball and returned off balance to county team mate Alec Stewart who whipped off the bails .
Lewis , though , could not make similar waves with the ball as Salim Malik and Wasim Akram batted through the rest of the session with few alarms .
Wasim rattled along to 30 not out , outscoring his partner who was unbeaten on 24 at the break , although the weather was again threatening to play the dominant role .
Rain arrived just as the players left the field for lunch , forcing the ground-staff into action yet again .
The weather delayed the resumption for over an hour , the umpires finally announcing play would start again at 1445 local time ( 1345 GMT ) .