Pietersen unable to help Surrey prevail chasing mammoth total

Pietersen, looking to find form after being dropped for England's forthcoming ODI and Twenty20 games against Pakistan, scored 38 and conceded a couple of sixes in his only over as Surrey crashed to their fourth defeat in 11 Group A starts.

Chasing 377 at an asking rate of 9.43 an over to pull off the third biggest run-chase in competition history, Surrey made 286.

Pietersen, who got off the mark with a miscued single to mid-on, appeared to be getting into his stride with a paddled four to fine leg against Shaaiq Choudry.

With his score on 25, he swept hard at Moeen Ali only for wicketkeeper Ben Cox to spill a tricky leg-side chance that brushed off the batsman's glove.

But Pietersen went for 38 from 33 balls. Advancing down the pitch and aiming to on-drive he clipped a firm, shoulder high return chance that Choudry gleefully accepted.

Pakistan are under orders from limited-overs captain Shahid Afridi to try to win over a crowd of 5,000 in their warm-up game against Somerset in Taunton today but the most important action will be taking place 170 miles away, behind closed doors.

Test captain Salman Butt and seam bowlers Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer face a Pakistan Cricket Board inquiry at the Pakistan High Commission in London into the 'spot-fixing' allegations which have put the remainder of their tour, and maybe even their cricketing futures, in doubt.

The rest of the Pakistan squad can continue preparations for the two NatWest Twenty20s and five one-day internationals they will play against England over the next three weeks.

"What has happened has gone," said Afridi at the County Ground. "We are here to play good cricket. It's a big challenge for me personally – playing in English conditions is always difficult. We are all looking forward to it.

"It has been really difficult. But we can forget everything, get out, play the cricket and entertain the people."

The PCB inquiry was announced on Tuesday, and is the third line of investigation ongoing into newspaper reports which claim the three named Pakistan players were central to a plot to bowl no-balls to order as a means of defrauding illegal bookmakers during the Lord's Test.