England first innings

A. Strauss c Clarke b Johnson 30

A. Cook c Hussey b Hilfenhaus 10

R. Bopara c Hughes b Johnson 35

K. Pietersen not out 6

P. Collingwood not out 5

Extras (b-4, lb-1, nb-6) 11

Total (three wickets; 27 overs) 97

Fall of wickets: 1-21 2-67 3-90

To bat: M. Prior, A. Flintoff, S. Broad, G. Swann, J. Anderson, M. Panesar

Bowling (to date): Johnson 9-1-37-2, Hilfenhaus 10-3-17-1 (3nb), Siddle 8-0-38-0 (3nb)

Australia: Phillip Hughes, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting (captain), Michael Clarke, Michael Hussey, Marcus North, Brad Haddin, Mitchell Johnson, Nathan Hauritz, Peter Siddle, Ben

Hilfenhaus.

'I'm going to silence the people who are talking against me by making a successful return to international cricket,' Shoaib told Geo Television in an interview Wednesday.

Shoaib missed last month's ICC World Twenty20 because of a skin problem and was later ignored for the ongoing Test series against Sri Lanka.

The Rawalpindi-born pacer made it clear that he has no problems with his fitness and can return to national duty any time the team needs him.

'I must tell you that there were never any problems with my fitness,' said Shoaib, who turns 34 next month.

'I was dropped from the Twenty20 World Cup because of medical grounds. I have recovered from that and am 100 percent fit. I am in the best form of my life and am training extensively,' he stressed.

Shoaib, who has taken 178 wickets in 46 Tests and 223 wickets in 144 ODIs and eight wickets in seven T20 internationals, said he is even ready to bowl in tough weather conditions.

'Lahore is very, very hot these days but I've been training there everyday and can play in any kind of conditions.'

Shoaib thanked former pacer Waqar Younis for backing his bid to make yet another international comeback.

'Waqar was a great fast bowler. He has been a good friend and also gives me valuable advice,' he said.

Waqar, a former Pakistan captain, said in an interview that he believes Shoaib can play for Pakistan for a few more years.

'Shoaib can still play for a couple of years for Pakistan and if that is possible then it is good for Pakistan cricket,' said Waqar.

'There is no doubt he is fast and a very intelligent bowler,' he said.

To revamp its domestic cricket, last year BCCI allowed participation of overseas players. But now it has felt that overseas players are not needed to strengthen the domestic tournaments.

The decision was taken by the Board of Control for Cricket in India's (BCCI) technical committee at the Cricket Centre here. The committee is headed by Sunil Gavaskar and has as members Chetan Chauhan, M.V. Sridhar, Biman Bhattacharjee, Milind Rege, Gyanendra Pandey, Kris Srikkanth, Sourav Ganguly, V.K. Ramaswamy and board secretary N. Srinivasan.

'Foreign players will not be permitted to play in domestic tournaments from the 2009-10 season onwards,' Srinivasan said.

BCCI's chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told IANS that the committee felt that there was no need for overseas players in domestic tournaments.

'It was implemented last year but the committee found that there is no need for overseas players to strengthen domestic tournaments. Our tournaments are fine and now we have lot of talented players coming up,' Shetty said.

'We also found that there wasn't much interest among the state associations for overseas players. This year only Baroda wanted Tillakaratne Dilshan and Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) was interested in Muttiah Muralitharan. So, we finally decided to do away with overseas players from domestic tournaments,' he added.

Board secretary Srinvasan said that the number of guest-players, players from outside the state, has been reduced to three from four. Last year, the BCCI said that four guest-players, including one overseas, could be signed by state associations.

The technical committee also decided that Ranji Trophy knockout matches should be played on home and away basis, as opposed to the neutral venue system, which was in place for the last two seasons. The wickets for the knockout games would be under the charge of the BCCI's Pitch and Grounds Committee member from the respective zone in which the match will be played.

The committee also felt that the board should make sure that its contracted players are playing for their respective states when they are not representing India in international matches.

It decided that in domestic tournaments, the ball should be changed after 34 overs during limited overs game and the Powerplay will be according to the International Cricket Council's (ICC) rule.

A special committee comprising Gavaskar, Chauhan, Ganguly and Srikkanth will go through the pitch reports of the match referees.

The defeat means that Pakistan's poor run in Test cricket continues as it has failed to win a single Test in the last 30 months.

Pakistan's last Test win came way back on January 22, 2007, when it defeated South Africa at Port Elizabeth. Inzamam-ul-Haq, then the team's captain, scored a precious 92 while Shoaib Akhtar had a ferocious first innings spell claiming four wickets. However, Pakistan went on to lose the series 1-2.

Since then Pakistan had three different captains but none of them managed a Test victory. Pakistan hosted South Africa in a two-match Test series in 2007 and lost 0-1. They toured India in the same year and lost the three-match series 0-1 following a defeat in the first Test in Delhi.

Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka in a two-match Test series earlier this year with new captain Younis Khan hitting a match-saving 313 in Karachi to draw the first Test. The second Test in Lahore was abandoned when the Sri Lankan cricket team on way to the Gaddafi Stadium was attacked by terrorists.

Since January 2007, Pakistan has lost five Test, and drawn five. The last series win was a 3-0 clean sweep against the West Indies at home in 2006.

Pakistan resumed the day on 71 for two, needing just 97 runs with eight wickets remaining to win the opener of the three-match series, but wickets tumbled from early in the morning session and the tourists were bowled out for 117 in less than 45 overs.

Left-arm spinner Rangana Herath, who was rushed into the contest from English league cricket after an injury to Muttiah Muralitharan, sparked the collapse with the wickets of Mohammad Yousuf (12) and Salam Butt (28).

Herath was Pakistan's chief tormentor, showing plenty of guile to claim impressive figures of 4-15 from 11.3 overs.

Yousuf, Pakistan's first-innings top scorer with 112, was the first man to go when he was trapped lbw with a well-disguised arm ball and Butt self-destructed with a wild slog-sweep that was caught at deep square leg.

Left-arm fast bowler Thilan Thushara, a controversial pick ahead of veteran Chaminda Vaas, vindicated his selection when he had former captain Shoaib Malik caught behind for a duck to leave Pakistan in disarray on 72-5.

Thushara, getting the ball to swing both ways, followed up with an inswinger to trap wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal lbw for six.

Sri Lanka keeper Tillakaratne Dilshan then seized on some clumsy calling to run out Misbah-ul-Haq for six shortly after an appeal for leg before was turned down.

Spinner Ajantha Mendis made an instant impact, bowling Umar Gul for nine with a fizzing leg-cutter.

Abdur Rauf and Mohammad Aamer threatened to stall the home side's victory charge with a partnership of 15 for the ninth wicket, but Herath deceived the latter with an arm ball soon after being called back for a second spell.

Herath then wrapped up victory just before the scheduled lunch break when he got Rauf to edge to Jayawardene at slip.

Mendis finished with 2-27 from 10 overs and Thushara chipped in with 2-21 from 12 overs.

Cardiff was controversially awarded the first test of the series with the traditional venues of Trent Bridge in Nottingham and Old Trafford in Manchester missing out. It will be the first test match staged in Wales.

England's Andrew Strauss, captaining for the first time in an Ashes series, told reporters after his team's warmup match against Warwickshire that his players were "walking into the unknown".

"We are not entirely sure what to expect. Both teams will go there not knowing what to expect and we can only judge when the test match is over," he said. "In world cricket home advantage counts for a huge amount."

The pitch is expected to be slow but offering no obvious advantages to the spinners and designed to last for the full five days.

Australia have a great batsman in captain Ricky Ponting while England possess, in Kevin Pietersen, a player capable of producing match-changing innings.

However, it is the bowling which holds the key in Cardiff and the remaining four tests and both sides will be debating up to Wednesday morning just which combination gives the best prospect of 20 wickets in the match.

Australia's hope received a body blow on Monday when fast bowler Brett Lee was ruled out through injury.

INTEREST HIGH

Lee got the ball to reverse wickedly in the warmup match against the England Lions and was a certainty to return to the side after a successful ankle operation.

He would have formed a hostile pace trio with Mitchell Johnson and Peter Siddle with Stuart Clark and Nathan Hauritz disputing the remaining spot.

Off-spinner Hauritz has held few terrors for English batsmen so far, conceding 180 runs against Sussex for just one wicket.

His chances of playing would have improved with the withdrawal of Lee, although Australia could be tempted to play four pace bowlers, adding Ben Hilfenhaus to the mix and relying on the part-time spin of Marcus North, Michael Clarke and Simon Katich.

England have the option of playing two orthodox slow bowlers in off-spinner Graeme Swann and left-armer Monty Panesar or an extra paceman in Graham Onions.

Although there is nothing like the fever pitch of anticipation that built up before the unforgettable 2005 Ashes series, interest is high in England because both sides look so evenly balanced.

"It's going to be a fierce competition but we're ready for it, we're excited about it and we're going to come out fighting," Pietersen said.