MCC lost by five wickets to Pakistan Shaheens in the second match of the Pakistan Tour in a 50-over contest at Aitchison College, Lahore.
A six-wicket haul by Eshan Adil and a unbeaten knock of 66 from Imran Rafiq proved vital in victory for the hosts, who sealed victory with five overs spare.
Pakistan Shaheens elected to bowl first prompting Will Rhodes and Michael Leask to open the batting for MCC.
Some smart bowling from Ehsan Adil saw Leask bowled for 11, before picking up the valuable wicket of Kumar Sangakkara, who was dismissed for 3.
MCC soon found themselves 42-3 when Michael Burgess (11) lost his wicket but Rhodes and Ross Whiteley provided some resistance with the bat to take the touring side to beyond 100.
Their stand of 68 came to an end when Rhodes (27) was removed by Adil just prior to the seamer picking up his fourth wicket of the match, dismissing Whitely who finished with an important score of 51 off 39 balls.
MCC were quickly six down with Mohammad Asghar picking up the wicket of Arron Lilley (8) with the tour side’s score reading 128-6 in the 28th over.
Roelof van der Merwe (47*) and Safyaan Sharif (31) provided a solid partnership for MCC towards the latter stages of their innings, with the latter finally losing his wicket to Adil, who sealed his five-wicket haul.
With MCC now approaching the 200 mark, Asghar secured his second wicket of the match to dismiss Imran Qayyum (0) prior to Adil claiming his sixth of a superb spell, bowling Fred Klaassen (0).
MCC finished their 50 overs with a score of 204/9.
In response, Pakistan Shaheens lost a wicket within the first over when Oliver Hannon-Dalby removed Zeeshan Malik for a duck.
Hannon-Dalby continued to impress with the ball for MCC, bowling Omair Bin Yousuf (25) before van der Merwe continued his form in the tour, by taking the wicket of Rohail Nazir, who was stumped by Michael Burgess for 20, two overs later.
When Saud Shakeel was run out by Rhodes for 16, Pakistan Shaheens found themselves in a spot of bother with 81-4 the score after 17.3 overs.
Sharif added to that pressure bowling Irfan Khan Niazi (13) in the 27th over as Pakistan Shaheens looked to be struggling towards the finish line with a tally of 114-5.
However, Rafiq’s wise innings and partnership with Hasan Mohsin proved to be a match-winning contribution.
Rafiq hit 66 off 124 balls and shared his stand of 91 with Mohsin (49*) to reach the required total of 205 with five overs remaining.
MCC’s next match in the tour of Pakistan will see them face Northern in a T20 clash at Aitchison College on Monday morning.
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