Pakistan made significant inroads on the opening day of the first Test at Trent Bridge, but Eoin Morgan and Paul Collingwood led an England rally as they reached tea on 190 for 4. Mohammad Aamer continued the form that had caused Australia so many problems with three wickets while the other went to Mohammad Asif as the hosts stumbled either side of lunch. Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott fell in the space of four balls but the innings was put back on track as Morgan counter-attacked with a punchy display.
It was a typically mixed performance from Pakistan both with the ball and in the field. Kamran Akmal had a difficult time behind the stumps as he dropped a sitter off Andrew Strauss early in the first session and the support bowling for Aamer and Asif was distinctly lacking in quality.
There was also plenty of action for the UDRS as four reviews were called for in the first two sessions. Two of those were during Kevin Pietersen's painful 29-ball innings as Pakistan twice challenged not-out decisions. Asif was the bowler on both occasions, firstly with an lbw appeal which replays showed was only clipping the bails then when he thought Pietersen had edged to the wicketkeeper but the noise, expertly noticed by Asoka de Silva, had been bat clipping pad.
Pietersen, though, never settled and looked woefully short of form in his first innings for nearly a month and there was no doubt about his eventual dismissal when Asif nipped a ball back which took the inside edge into the stumps. It was another wonderful piece of bowling from an intelligent operator.
England's problems were compounded in the next over when Jonathan Trott, who had been reprieved by the UDRS when he had 13 after being given lbw to Danish Kaneria despite an inside edge, padded up to an inswinger from Aamer and this time Trott's request for a review couldn't save him.
At 118 for 4, Morgan was in the position to prove he could haul his team out of trouble in five-day as well as one-day cricket. He had an early alarm when he edged Aamer and Akmal - possibly out of sheer delight of thinking he'd caught one - claimed the dismissal but even with the naked eye it hadn't appeared to carry and replays confirmed the ball grazed the turf.
After that scare Morgan settled and battled hard to see off the main threat of the pace bowlers. His reward was to face two spinners, Kaneria and Shoaib Malik, who were used in tandem by Salman Butt as he rested his quicks towards the end of the session. He drove Malik powerfully through the covers and had the confidence to unfurl a reverse sweep off Kaneria whose lack of control was a problem for Butt.
Collingwood offered typically fighting support and broke the post-lunch shackles when he dispatched consecutive short balls from the struggling Umar Gul through the covers. By tea the fifth-wicket stand was worth 72 and it was Pakistan needing to regain control.
Strauss had looked in good form during the morning session although had huge stroke of luck when Akmal added another awful drop to a sizeable collection of keeping horrors. Akmal had been tidy during the recent series against Australia and there was a sense of disbelief that such an easy chance had gone down but he remains an unconvincing gloveman.
The mistake appeared to shake Pakistan who looked a little flat and when Aamer fired a ball so far down the leg side that it barely hit the cut strip heads threatened to drop. However, with the following ball Aamer hit the perfect line to Cook who was squared up on off stump and edged low to first slip. Trott then did well to keep out his first delivery as Aamer produced a well-directed yorker and England were relieved when his opening six-over spell came to end.
Strauss and Trott progressed comfortably as they added 51 for the second wicket but 10 minutes before the break Butt recalled Aamer for his second spell. With his fourth ball he found Strauss's top edge as the England captain's eyes lit up at a hint of width. It sent Pakistan into lunch in decent spirits and their mood improved further shortly after the resumption, but by tea momentum was beginning to shift again in what has already been a compelling contest.
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