The first Monday morning of the summer holidays, the sky lumpen - an unscheduled autumn duvet pulled hastily from the cupboard above. The roads are quiet with relief, the ruddy trudgers of sandwich-laden picnic-hampers down to a steady trickle along the Great Stone Road.In the separated pens of the Old Trafford nets in the hour before play, the Pakistan players practised. And practised. Azhar Ali, diligently forward, diligently back; the coaching staff, arms folded, nodding approvingly. In and out they alternated, like figures on a weather house, Mohammad Hafeez, Yasir Shah, lined up against the Lancashire academy bowlers sprightly-keen to show what they could do.Behind them, staring at helmets and backsides, trying to identify whose belonged to whom, stood the Monday morning spectators. Not a great number - 6,533 in all - but proper cricket fans these: who else would give up a days holiday in chilly late July to sit in bucket seats to watch the fourth day of a one-sided Test?The nets are funny things, as close as people get to the players, an obscure mini zoo where fans stare while players pretend theyre not there, fans lurk and players reach resolutely for their bats and hope to walk away to the safety of the dressing-room un-manhandled. A rite of passage nonetheless.From the nets, it was just a short journey round the ground to B Stand - just to the left of the media centre, and most pertinently next door to the Pakistan dressing-room. If you couldnt quite see Misbah-ul-Haq reaching out for an idle scratch, you could imagine it: every players jaunt up and down the steps that led to the pitch was wildly cheered.B stand then, a multicultural slice of the kind of English society that cricket often turns up by accident: a good-natured mixture of cold and unpickled British people hunched over packets of cheese and onion in a mixture of cagouls, neat beards, hijabs, a couple of skull caps and a pair of stars-and-stripes sunglasses.On a day slowly meandering along to its inevitable conclusion, the spectators entertained themselves with vuvuzelas and cracker blowers, chatter in urdu and English, inflatable bananas and that sustaining culinary combination of a soggy 99 followed by a warming coffee.In the prime seats just metres away from the Pakistan dressing-room steps, sat three sisters, Kiran, 21, a pharmacy student, Amina, 18, about to embark on a dentistry course, and Sophia, 15, hair covered in bright hijabs and decorated with Pakistani flag pins.The three sisters had woken at seven oclock and piled into a big van the family had hired for the day. Eight people crammed in, bags full of picnic, over the way from Bolton, Rihanna and Calvin Harris blaring on the radio. They are cricket nuts, all of them, a Pakistan flag hangs outside their house and posters adorn the walls. Theyd brought along a roll of coloured paper with them, and intended to write some thoroughly inspirational posters.We watch Pakistan on TV, but this is the first time weve seen them live, Sophia said. We love their passion. We paid extra for these seats because we knew theyd be just next to the dressing room.She reaches for her sisters phone to show her selfies with the team just as England declare at 173 for 1: time for Pakistan to pull off a surprise win? Were just hoping it doesnt rain.Higher up in B stand were another group of family friends - two of them, Zohaib and Farukh, had driven down from Glasgow with their small sons. A five oclock wake-up and then a four hour drive with no stops. It wasnt great for the rest of them but I didnt want to be late, Zohaib said. Their friend Ali Usmani had come from Bolton too - via 16 years in Pakistan and 20 years in Holland. He and his wife had brought along their sonI tell him to support England, that you should support the country where you are brought up. He loves cricket, his favourites are Shane Warne and Shahid Afridi, but I tell him that education is the first priority.It was a first visit to Old Trafford for the sisters, for the Glaswegians, for Ali too. The first time you hesitate to come, he said, then the way is open. Good news for Lancashire, if there is good news in a Test crowd of six-and-a-half thousand - there is plenty of potential support out there if they can find a way to capitalise on it.As it was, Pakistan crept past their first innings, just. When Misbah played on for 35, the end was nigh, though a final flourish from a blazing Mohammad Amir gave his fans something to cheer about.And from there it was a trudge back to the car, bags empty, legs tired. For England fans, a triumphant afternoon. For Pakistan fans, an ultimately disappointing but potentially uplifting day at the cricket. For the Pakistan team, it is back to the coach and the drawing board - the next two Tests suddenly looming very large. OG Anunoby Raptors Jersey . -- Adam Snyder returned to the San Francisco 49ers this season because the offensive lineman thought it was his best opportunity to win a championship. Tracy Mcgrady Raptors Jersey . -- Former San Diego Chargers safety Paul Oliver was found dead at his Atlanta-area home Tuesday night, and a medical examiner said Wednesday that the ex-player committed suicide. http://www.nbaraptorsonline.com/Authentic-Norman-Powell-Jersey/ . If ever they start actually putting pictures beside words in the dictionary, the Blue Jays left-handers mug will appear beside “Consistency. Marc Gasol Raptors Jersey . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Kyle Lowry Raptors Jersey . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. Ferraris new chief technical officer Mattia Binotto insists his team has everything it needs to fight for championships, adding that the 2017 car is already well advanced.Binotto took over technical leadership of the team from James Allison in late July following a series of high-level crisis meetings chaired by Ferraris CEO Sergio Marchionne. Binotto, who has been at Maranello since 1995, comes from the power unit side of the team and is credited with the strides Ferraris engine department made between 2014 and 2015.Since Binottos promotion, Enrico Cardile, who formally worked on Ferraris GT project, has been appointed as head of aerodynamics and the teams engineering departments have been restructured to encourage more creative thinking among its workforce. However, Binotto says Maranello does not require a complete overhaul and is confident it can succeed with the workforce it has in place.There is a lot of quality in Ferrari, and a lot of talented people, he said. Im sure that weve got all of what we need to do a good job and really to battle for the championship. So no, I do not foresee any real necessity at the moment to do something different compared to whatt weve got.dddddddddddd.The changes Binotto does make in the coming months are unlikely to have a major impact on Ferraris 2017 car, which started development some time ago under Allison.On the 2017 project, clearly it is well advanced, Binotto added. I think that it is a continuous development and we need to especially make sure that we are progressing well on the development and there is nothing different that we need to do, except doing better compared to what weve done so far. Its really a matter of progressing, progressing fast and make it right.Although Ferrari is approaching the end of its eighth consecutive season without a world title, Binotto has no doubt it can return to championship-winning ways in the future.Ive known Ferrari since many years - Ive spent more than 20 years in Ferrari. Ferrari is a great team, huge resources, a number of very highly talented people and Im sure weve got all the resources to do well. No doubt that in order to win we need to improve furthermore. We need to push, to work hard, but we can make it. ' ' '