Shoaib strikes on Surrey debut

Shoaib Akhtar took a wicket for Surrey on his debut for the county but southern rivals Hampshire had the better of a rain-affected first day at The Oval here Tuesday.

Akhtar had Michael Carberry caught behind on the opening day of four in this County Championship First Division clash on his way to figures of one wicket for 23 in eight overs.

But Hampshire still managed to make 116 for two in the 39 overs that were possible in south London.

Former England fast bowler Alex Tudor, on loan from Essex to bottom-of-the-table Surrey, the club where he began his career, took the other wicket to fall when Michael Brown played on to the paceman's second ball.

At stumps, Michael Lumb was 29 not out having hung in for 92 balls while Chris Benham was unbeaten on 28.

Shoaib, 33, is currently appealing against an 18-month ban and a fine of seven million rupees (93,000 dollars) imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board following his public criticisms of his country's cricket chiefs in January this year after he was dropped from a list of 15 centrally contracted players.

Initially the fast bowler was banned for five years, a move that threatened to finally end his incident-packed international career but this was cut to 18 months and the hefty fine by an appeal committee. In July, an appeal committee reduced the ban to 18 months but imposed the hefty fine. A Lahore High Court hearing suspended the ban but upheld the fine, paving the way for his selection in hosts Pakistan's Champions Trophy squad last month.

However, the Champions Trophy was postponed for a year by the International Cricket Council after several non-Asian teams raised concerns about playing in Pakistan, where bombings and suicide attacks have taken place in recent months.