Pakistan seamer Gul in race to be fit for must-win game at Lord's

Pakistan have been given a huge boost with the news that the fast bowler who missed the Oval Test with a hamstring injury is likely to be available.

LONDON // Pakistan have been given a huge boost with the news that Umar Gul, the fast bowler who missed the Oval Test with a hamstring injury, was likely to be available for selection for the final Test against England at Lord's. Gul, who took five wickets in the first Test against Australia at Lord's, had a full workout in the indoor nets at Lord's on Tuesday. Pakistan need to win the fourth and final Test, which starts today, to share the series 2-2, while England only need a draw.

Andy Flower, the England coach, agreed that conditions in the first two Tests, which his team won comfortably, made batting difficult for both sides. But he said the England line-up had underperformed in better conditions at the Oval. "On a good Oval pitch, scores of 230 and 220 weren't good enough to win a Test match and we need to produce better results, simple as that," Flower told reporters. "Lord's should provide us with a very good opportunity to put things right and it is the responsibility of all of us to make sure that happens. At the Oval, although we won the toss and batted, they were still quite trying conditions.

"But in the second innings there were no excuses whatsoever. We set up a brilliant platform through Alastair Cook and Jonathan Trott [their top-order batsmen] and we performed poorly after that. Any collapse is concerning and there have been too many of them." The Pakistan team, meanwhile, donated win bonuses worth US$54,400 (nearly Dh200,000) to the floods relief effort in their country. The Pakistan Cricket Board said that all players and officials had agreed to pledge half of their bonuses from the win over England last week. The board had last week said it would donate $134,000 to the floods relief on behalf of players and its employees.

* With agencies