LONDON: Seamers Mohammad Abbas and Hasan Ali took four wickets each as Pakistan bowled out England for 184 shortly after tea on the opening day of the first Test at Lord’s, with Joe Root’s decision to bat first backfiring on Thursday.

On a day when Pakistan’s pacemen bowled good line and length and their fielders produced some brilliant catches, England collapsed from 149-4 in the 48th over to all out 11 overs later, with the last five wickets falling for the addition of just 18 runs.

Alastair Cook — who was playing a record-leveling 153rd consecutive Test match, which equalled Australia great Allan Border’s all-time record for successive appearances at this level — was England’s top scorer with 70 before he was bowled by Mohammad Amir.

Otherwise, Abbas (4-23) and Hasan (4-51) did the damage in conditions that have proved to be helpful for Pakistan’s quartet of seamers.

After Root elected to bat, Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed said he would have wanted to bowl if given the choice.

At tea England were 165 for five, having slumped to 43 for three before lunch with Cook hold the innings together.

But shortly before the afternoon break Cook was bowled by Amir, a team-mate when Essex won the County Championship last season, as the left-arm quick produced a brilliant delivery that cut away late off the pitch late to clip the top of the opener’s off stump.

Cook faced 148 balls, including 14 fours Ben Stokes went to the interval unbeaten on 36, having hoisted leg-spinner Shadab Khan for the first six of this match. Jos Buttler, recalled as a specialist number seven, was unbeaten on 13.

Root opted to bat first in the opening match of this two-Test series, despite the overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch offering the promise of assistance for Pakistan’s pacemen.

Both England and Pakistan’s have concerns over their batting so it was a particularly bold decision by Root.

It certainly looked a good toss for Pakistan to lose as three members of an England top-order that repeatedly failed during winless winter Test tours of Australia and New Zealand all fell for single-figure scores.

Abbas made the breakthrough when he bowled Mark Stoneman (four) with a late swinging delivery to leave England 12 for one in the fourth over.

Root, promoted up the order to number three, also fell for four when he drove at a wide ball from Hasan and edged behind to Sarfraz.

Cook got into gear with a cover-driven four off Amir, but he could only watch as fellow left-hander Dawid Malan (six) became Hasan’s second wicket of the morning, with wicket-keeper Sarfraz again making no mistake with the catch.

At that stage, England were 43 for three.

Just before Malan’s dismissal, Faheem Ashraf rapped the pad of Cook, then on 23, with ‘umpire’s call’ going against Pakistan after they reviewed former Australia seam bowler Paul Reiffel’s original decision of not out.

England were 72 for three at lunch, with Cook 46 not out and Jonny Bairstow, batting up the order at number five, unbeaten on 10.

Cook, England’s all-time leading Test run-scorer, went to fifty with a four to third man off Amir before Bairstow was bowled by Faheem for 27.

Buttler, having been encouraged to play the attacking game that makes him such a dangerous white-ball batsman, was quickly into his stride with two fours in three balls off Shadab — a whip through midwicket followed by a cover-driven boundary.

Scoreboard

ENGLAND (1st Innings): A.N. Cook b Amir 70 M. Stoneman b Abbas 4 J.E. Root c Sarfraz b Hasan 4 D.J. Malan c Sarfraz b Hasan 6 J.M. Bairstow b Faheem 27 B.A. Stokes lbw b Abbas 36 J.C. Buttler c Asad b Hasan 14 D.M. Bess c Asad b Abbas 5 M.A. Wood c Amir b Hasan 7 S.C.J. Broad lbw b Abbas 0 J.M. Anderson not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-1, NB-1) 9 TOTAL (all out, 58.2 overs) 184 FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-33, 3-43, 4-100, 5-149, 6-168, 7-168, 8-180, 9-180.

BOWLING: Mohammad Amir 14-3-41-1; Mohammad Abbas 14-7-23-4; Hasan Ali 15.2-2-51-4 (1nb, 1w); Faheem Ashraf 9-2-28-1; Shadab Khan 6-0-34-0.

PAKISTAN: Azhar Ali, Imam-ul-Haq, Haris Sohail, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shadab Khan, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Mohammad Abbas. UMPIRES: R.J. Tucker (Australia) and P.R. Reiffel (Australia). TV UMPIRE: B.N.J. Oxenford (Australia). MATCH REFEREE: J.J. Crowe (New Zealand).

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2018