Pakistanis 324 for 5 (Younis 99*, Shafiq 80, Masood 62) v SomersetScorecardThere may be more impressive individual performances and more action-packed days in the next two or three months but, in the context of this Pakistan tour, this was an almost perfect start.On a benign pitch, in front of a good natured crowd, Pakistan were able to ease their way into a tour that promises some tough moments on and perhaps off the pitch, with a low-key day - a wonderfully low key day from a Pakistan perspective - of gentle cricket.It wasnt like this the last time they were here. The last time Pakistan were in Taunton, in September 2010, they were besieged. It was only days after the News of the World story had broken and, as helicopters hovered over their hotel and journalists waited in the car-park, the atmosphere inside the squad was anything but low key and gentle.The Pakistan camp remain nervous, probably unnecessarily so, about the reception that awaits them on this tour. So to have started this trip with three weeks training out of the spotlight and then enjoy a relatively uneventful day during which nearly all of their top six enjoyed a decent amount of time in the middle represented an ideal start.Not for the first time, Pakistan were grateful to the composure and class of Younis Khan. The 38-year-old, who missed the 2010 tour having fallen out of favour with the team management, finished the day unbeaten on 99 having added 179 for the fifth-wicket with Asad Shafiq.It was not a flawless innings. Younis was reprieved on 20 (a tough chance wide to Marcus Trescothicks right at second slip) and again on 75 (when Alex Barrow was unable to cling on to an even tougher chance offered via the inside edge). But, in between times, he began to settle into the pace of pitch and the movement in the air and unveiled many of those familiar strokes - the devastating sweep, the flamboyant cut and the pleasing drives off front and back foot - that have already brought him more than 9,000 Test runs and 31 centuries.Its not easy for any team when they come to England, Younis said afterwards. But we have come to the country very early and we are very well prepared. I think this may be the first time that Pakistan have batted well at the start of a tour. We nearly all had 50 or 60 balls in the middle.It would be fantastic for me if my performances helped the team do well. It would make me the happy man of the earth.Shafiq was no less impressive. Joining Younis with the side on 132 for 4 and in just a little trouble, he survived an early run out chance but then was admirably compact and watchful in steering his side into a safer waters. While he may reflect he squandered an excellent opportunity to register a century - he sliced a somewhat wild drive off a wide one that turned a little - he will have taken confidence from this start.The one man to miss out was the captain. Misbah-up-Haq felt for his second ball, a delivery some way outside off stump, without any foot movement and edged to slip.Tougher challenges remain, of course. The days when county teams looked upon these matches as an opportunity to make a name for themselves are largely gone, especially for bowlers. So here Somerset, resting the Overton brothers and Lewis Gregory, fielded an attack that included three men with one Championship cap for the club between them including a first-class debut for 18-year-old off-spinner, Dominic Bess, who moved from Sidmouth to Exeter a couple of years ago to ensure him of more opportunity at club level.They bowled tidily enough. Paul van Meekeren, a Dutch international who has been playing club cricket for Benwell Hill near Newcastle, has just signed until the end of the season and did himself no harm with a whole-hearted effort. After Mohammad Hafeez missed a straight one, van Meekeren produced a beauty that draw a stroke from Azhar Ali but left him to take the edge.Tim Groenewald also finished with two wickets. Two balls before Misbahs departure he had seen Shan Masood fall across a straight one as he tried to whip the ball through the leg side.But Josh Davey, the Scotland international, was less fortunate. After dropping a relatively simple caught and bowled chance offered by Masood on 17, he was also the unlucky bowler on both occasions that Younis was reprieved. On another day, he might also have won a leg before shout against Hafeez before the batsman had scored.Masood, especially efficient off his legs, and Hafeez, who pulled successive sixes when the medium-paced Davey dropped short, may both feel they missed out on the chance to cash-in against this inexperienced attack. But, in terms of gaining time at the crease ahead of the serious business part of this tour, this was a pleasing start for Pakistan. Brandon Doughty Jersey . -- For the first time in two months, an opponent was standing up to Alabama. Cheap Dolphins Jerseys China . -- Stanfords Kevin Danser knelt on one knee and hardly moved on the sideline as Michigan State celebrated its Rose Bowl victory and his Cardinal teammates made their way to the locker room. http://www.cheapdolphinsjerseyselite.com/?tag=cheap-kenny-stills-jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Nat Moore Jersey . LOUIS -- Lance Lynn was one of the more enthusiastic participants as the St. Cody Parkey Jersey . Aside from the trilogy main event title fight, there are a number of intriguing matchups in the heavyweight, welterweight and lightweight divisions. HOUSTON -- Craig Sagers once lustrous chestnut hair is down to a few unruly strands because of chemotherapy, and on this day of hope a simple green T-shirt and blue shorts adorn the broadcaster known by millions for his ostentatious wardrobe and easy rapport with the NBAs elite.He methodically extended a long, skinny arm to an IV pole holding the stem cells he is counting on to save his life. There was silence as he cradled the tube, watching the crimson liquid drip, drip, drip in a perfect cadence into the cannulai that feeds it into his cancer-stricken body.TNTs beloved basketball broadcaster received a rare third bone marrow transplant on Wednesday to fight an aggressive form of leukemia. The 65-year-old Sager has battled acute myeloid leukemia since 2014 and announced in March he was no longer in remission.Sager knows the odds are against him. Yet, he seems unfazed.I like to gamble, he told The Associated Press. I like to bet on horses, I like to bet on dogs, I like to bet on a lot of things. Ive bet on a lot of things with a lot higher odds than this.Sager has twice before received a bone marrow transplant with stem cells and each time he went into remission for several months. His son, Craig Sager II, was the donor then. This time, an anonymous 20-year-old donor was considered a perfect match.Sager has been hospitalized for a month and has another monthlong stay ahead. He hasnt thought a lot about the man whose bone marrow could change everything for him. But when he learned of his age, he expressed a half-serious concern.My only thing was I was afraid that when he signed up to be the donor, he may have been in some drunk fraternity house trying to impress his date, said Sager, with a smile. And they call him up the next day and say: `Want to come down to the hospital? and hes like: `What?His fears turned out to be unfounded.He came through, Sager said.The latest of nearly 100 procedures Sager has endured in his well-publicized fight was performed at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and took more than 10 hours to complete. Dr. Muzaffar Qazilbash, Sagers stem cell transplantation physician, researched thousands of such transplants at MD Anderson over the last 15 years.Its less than 1 percent of the total number of transplants, Qazilbash said. Its very rare to have three transplants.Sager, who has worked for TNT for more than three decades, says hes open to trying anything doctors think might help.Ive had every chemo in the alphabet, most of them more than once, he said. Some of them that arent even in the alphabet, theyre just numbers -- clinical trials. But I bet if you added all those up it would have to be like 60- or 70-something. Ive had 23 bone marrow aspirations. Having one isnt fun and Ive had 23. So thats been tough.Despite the rigors of treatment and how they can ravage his body, hes never thought about giving up. He gets angry when he meets other patients who say theyve grown weary of fighting.Man, life is too beautiful, too wonderful, theres just too many things, he said. Its not just you. Its your family and kids and all. Fight. Fight until the end. Fight as hard as you can.With his radiant smile and TV-perfect persona, it takes time to peel back the layers of positivity and catch a glimpse of how hard that fight can be.His attitude is, nobody wants to hear it, said his wife Stacy, his full-time caregiver and No. 1 fan. And so it makes you reflect on yourself and the things that you say when youre complaining about little things in life and trivial things, and it just puts things in perspecttive.ddddddddddddBut there are times, often as night creeps into early morning, where it all becomes too much. No medication can help.Ive never had any of those days where Ive actually said `why me, or `I cant do it, he said. But Ill have some dark nights where Ill be here by myself and maybe getting some medicine thats making me jump around like a rabbit. And Im in pain and Ive got chills and Ive got fever and Ive got everything mixed into one and Im throwing up and have diarrhea ... and Ill just say: `Stacy, I need you. I need you.And shell come to me and just hold me and it just makes it better, he said.A few days before his transplant, Stacy came down with a bad cold and doctors sent her home, fearful shed transmit her illness to her husband. Hall of Famer and TNT colleague Charles Barkley heard she couldnt be there for a couple of days and hopped on a plane from Phoenix.However, Sir Charles had hip replacement surgery less than a month ago and wasnt cleared to travel. He said his doctor was livid when he learned Barkley had defied orders and flown halfway across the country. Barkley informed the doctor that it was an emergency.Craig Sager is one of the most interesting people Ive ever met, Barkley said. We go to see Sager to cheer him up and by the time you leave youre like, `Is anything wrong with him? He has the most positive attitude ... When you go to try and cheer him up his attitude is so upbeat he cheers you up.Sager found inspiration in a girl who lost her fight with cancer before her ninth birthday. He befriended Lacey Holsworth and her family while working on a story about her illness and remained friends with her parents after she died in April 2014. Holsworth had cheered on the Michigan State basketball team and had a close friendship with star Adreian Payne.Last weekend, her parents visited Sager in his Houston hospital room. They left him with a more tangible reminder of her bravery.They brought me little Laceys boots that she used to always wear to games and a picture of her wearing them, said Sager, clutching the high-top cheetah footwear with laces made from silk ribbons. That little girl was so amazing. Fought for all of those years, was always positive, always cheerful, always brought other peoples spirits up. So if Im laying here feeling bad, I just think about Lacey and it puts everything in perspective.Sagers also bolstered by his drive to be back on the sideline for the NBA season. He doesnt expect to have recovered from the transplant in time for the season-opener on Oct. 25, but aims to return by early November for more of gentle sparring with the likes of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich .It would be a victory not just for him, but for all the people his fight has inspired.It means that youre surviving and youre winning, he said. That youre knocking down obstacles and clearing hurdles that are put in front of you and youre doing them with flying colors.On Wednesday, five colorful balloons were tied to one side of his hospital bed. Several had birthday greetings and two said: Happy birthday, its your big day.Festive, yes. But Sager was born in June.When you get stem cells they say its your new birthday, Stacy explained. So this is his fourth birthday.Sager tried to downplay the pageantry surrounding the event, saying it wasnt a big deal.That earned a sweet, yet stern, admonishment from his beloved wife.It is a big deal, she said. Its giving you life. Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys From China Wholesale NFL Jerseys Cheap NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys ' ' '