Pakistan precariously placed on 3/1 at Stumps in response to England's 328 on Day 1.

By Abdullah Ansari (11th August, 2016)

Toss: England won the toss, Alastair Cook chose to bat first.

Teams

Pakistan: Sami Aslam, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (c), Asad Shafiq, Iftikhar Ahmed, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Yasir Shah, Mohammad Amir, Sohail Khan, Wahab Riaz.

England: AN Cook (c), AD Hales, JE Root, JM Vince, GS Ballance, JM Bairstow (wk), MM Ali, CR Woakes, SCJ Broad, ST Finn, JM Anderson.

England started off the day positively after Alastair Cook won the toss and opted to bat on a pitch that had a slight green tinge. England went in with an unchanged lineup, retaining their winning combination, while Pakistan opted to drop Mohammad Hafeez and Rahat Ali, bringing in Iftikhar Ahmed and Wahab Riaz. England started off well as they usually have throughout the series, with the bowlers once again feeding Cook in his strong areas. Alex Hales, however, struggled once again as he clipped an inswinging delivery by Mohammad Amir straight to square leg, where Yasir Shah took a low catch. Alex Hales stood his ground, but due to how fast the whole event happened, cameras provided nothing conclusive and thus the on-field decision stood. Cook and Root looked typically solid, until Wahab bowled a good delivery that took Cook's edge, only for Iftikhar Ahmed to drop the catch at slip. It didn't prove costly, however, as the England captain uncharacteristically chopped a shortish delivery onto his stumps from Sohail Khan. Wahab Riaz then cranked up the pace, and had Joe Root and James Vince caught behind in quick succession to leave England reeling at 92/4 at Lunch.

Bairstow and Ballance came out to bat after Lunch, and Wahab soon had Bairstow caught at point; however, it was a no-ball and the wicket-keeper got a reprieve. Ballance did not last long though, as a bouncer from Wahab disturbed him. He pushed at a full delivery next ball with static footwork, and was caught in the slips. Moeen Ali came and also offered an early chance to Azhar Ali at slip, who dropped a simple catch with Mohammad Amir, the bowler, extremely frustrated. That was it for a while, as Moeen and Bairstow batted extremely well, with calculated aggression, continuing from where they left off at Edgbaston. Pakistan were frustrated, as England went to Tea at 200/5.

Bairstow was dismissed by Mohammad Amir soon after Tea, caught behind, via the inside edge with Sarfraz Ahmed taking a good catch. However, Chris Woakes came out and played a series of excellent shots, driving well on the off-side as Pakistan failed to make quick breakthroughs into the lower order. He was finally dismissed by Sohail Khan after an enterprising 45. Broad was dismissed LBW almost immediately by Sohail as well, while Finn also succumbed to the right-arm pacer. Moeen then started keeping strike, and got to a wonderful hundred with a big six; he was the last man out as he hooked a short ball to deep square-leg, with Sohail Khan finishing with another five-fer. England made 328 all out. Pakistan came out to bat and suffered a huge blow as Sami Aslam was dismissed by Broad, LBW before the close of play, Pakistan 3/1 at Stumps.

Summary: A good day for England after a wonderful hundred by Moeen Ali. 300 on the board in the first innings is always a good start, and Pakistan would have wanted to limit them to a lower score after having them 110/5. However, Moeen played an excellent knock after a costly drop by Azhar Ali, taking England to 300 as Sohail Khan took the lower-order wickets to finish with a five-fer. The late wicket of Edgbaston hero Sami Aslam is a major blow for Pakistan and there will be a lot of pressure on Azhar Ali on Day 2.

Fall of wickets:

1-23 (Hales, 6.2 ov)
2-69 (Cook, 16.5 ov)
3-73 (Root, 17.4 ov)
4-74 (Vince, 19.1 ov)
5-110 (Ballance, 27.2 ov)
6-203 (Bairstow, 52.3 ov)
7-282 (Woakes, 66.4 ov)
8-282 (Broad, 66.6 ov)
9-296 (Finn, 70.4 ov)
10-328 (Ali, 76.4 ov)

1-3 (Sami Aslam, 1.5 ov)

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