Russell Garcia, starting the move down the right, exchanged passes with Mark Pearn before scoring a well-taken goal. Muhammad Shahbaz equalised on the stroke of half-time.In an exciting second half, marred only by temporary suspensions to Andy Humphrey and Guy Fordham, England had more of the play but failed to score from seven penalty corners against Pakistan’s two.”Delighted,” was the verdict of David Whittle, the England manager. “Everyone adjusted well.” Today England play Germany who were without a game yesterday.PAKISTAN: Mansoor Ahmed capt; Danish Kaleem, Tariq Imran; Irfan Mehmood, Muhammad Khalid, Waseem Ahmed; Muhammad Ali, Tahir Zaman, Kamran Ashraf, Muhammad Shahbaz, Babar Abdullah.ENGLAND: D Luckes (East Grinstead); A Humphrey (Cannock); J Wallis (Teddington), B Garrard (Guildford), G Fordham (Hounslow); B Sharpe (Cannock), R Garcia (HDM, capt), J Pidcock ( Cannock); D Hall (Guildford), B Crutchley (Cannock), J Lee (Old Loughtonians). Substitutes used: B Waugh (Southgate), N Conway (Teddington), S Head (East Grinstead), M Pearn (Reading).Umpires: D Prior (Aus) & C Siebrechet (Ger).Surbiton eased their way out of the Premier Division relegation zone with a 4-0 win against a depleted Old Loughtonians.

In the women’s Premier, Ipswich moved four points clear at the top with a 3-1 win at Doncaster as Slough went down 2-0 at Clifton.. China will go into the World Championships in May with high hopes after winning four of the five All-England titles at the National Indoor Area in Birmingham on Saturday, but fans will not want a repeat of the women’s final. Gong Zhichao, seeded No 2 and seen as a rising star, bowed out in 19 minutes, beaten 11-1, 11-3 by Ye Zhaoying, the world champion but seeded only joint third. The 19-year-old Gong had beaten Susi Susanti earlier in the week and looked a capable performer, but on Saturday her form deserted her.

Ye was untroubled as Gong constantly hit too long or too wide in what was a huge let-down for the 5,500 crowd.
Whatever the disappointment for the fans, though, it was virtually guaranteed to be China’s day. For the first time in the tournament’s 87- year history both sets of singles finalists were Chinese, and they also took the women’s and mixed doubles titles.In the men’s singles, Dong Jiong, the Olympic silver medallist, beat his compatriot Sun Jun 15-9, 15-5, but China’s most successful player was the highly efficient Ge Fei. She and Gu Jun beat Eliza and Resiana Zelin of Indonesia 15-6, 15-9 to retain their women’s doubles crown. Ge then teamed up with Liu Yong in the mixed to beat the top seeds, Trikus Heryanto and Minarti Timur of Indonesia, 15-10, 15-2.The only title not to go to the Chinese was the men’s doubles, in which the South Koreans, Ha Tae-kwon and Kang Kyung-jin, beat the Danish pair, Jon Holst-Christensen and Michael Sogaard, 15-11, 17-16, in the best match of the afternoon.. A perfect weekend for the Leopards left them four points clear in the Budweiser League when their closest challengers, Sheffield Sharks, and the defending champions, London Towers, both lost by the narrowest margin last night against two more of the title contenders.

The Leopards won 88-84 at Thames Valley on Saturday then sat back as Sheffield lost 84-83 at Chester Jets and the Towers fell 95-94 after double overtime at the National Indoor Arena against Birmingham Bullets.
A three-point play from Nigel Lloyd snatched victory for Birmingham after London had been denied by a Billy Ross three-pointer at full time and three free throws from Lloyd with two seconds of the first overtime left.Two free throws from Chester’s Hilliary Scott gave them an 84-80 lead against the Sharks, before their American, Deon Hames, scored a three- pointer with the last shot of the game.Docklands-based Leopards lead Sheffield, Birmingham and Chester by four points.. Barring an upset beyond the wildest dreams even of Leeds fans, Manchester United will progress to the semi-finals of the European Cup on Wednesday evening, but if the bookmakers are correct, it will not be on the back of a victory in Portugal, or even a draw. Porto are even money with Ladbrokes to restore a little pride after their thrashing at Old Trafford, with Manchester available at 5-2 against with William Hill, and the draw generally 12-5. United are hardly going to start the match with five up front, but Porto’s need for early goals will leave gaps, and an away goal would effectively end the tie. At 5-2, Alex Ferguson’s men are excellent value.
An away win is essential if Newcastle are to progress in the Uefa Cup, and while Monaco, their opponents tomorrow, were generously priced (and recommended here) to win the first leg, allegiance should now switch to the Magpies.