Ross Whiteley and Joe Clarke scored useful late order runs for England Lions who went down by seven wickets to Pakistan 'A' in the opening T20 match in Dubai today.
The Worcestershire duo (pictured above) were both making their debut for the Lions although Clarke has played previously at Under-19 level and Whiteley has represented England in the Hong Kong Sixes.
Whiteley showed glimpses of the big hitting that brought him 29 sixes in the NatWest T20 Blast last summer.
He hit two sixes in making 22 off 15 balls and Clarke made 16 off 13 deliveries with two fours as the Lions made 145-6 in their 20 overs after skipper James Vince had elected to bat.
Clarke is the youngest member of the squad but showed his confidence in playing a ramp shot against Junaid Khan which brought him four.
Runs were hard to come by initially for The Lions but Dawid Malan reached a 43 ball half century which included three sixes.
Sam Billings, who is keeping wicket in this match, also made a breezy 31 off 21 balls before caught in the deep with the total 101-4 in the 16th over.
Then came Whiteley and Clarke's useful late order contributions.
England made early inroads into the Pakistan batting order and Reece Topley (one wicket) and Jake Bal (two wickets) quickly reduced them to 26-3.
But that was the end of England's success as an unbroken stand of 120 between Iftikhar and Babar saw Pakistan through to victory with an over to spare.
Lions: Vince, Malan, Westley, Billings (wk), Clarke, Whiteley, Dawson, Parry, Topley, Ball, Mills.
