Eng v Pak 1st Test, Day 1: Woakes, Archer put visitors on backfoot (Lunch)

Manchester, Aug 5 (IANS) Jofra Archer and Chris Woakes bowled with venom and snared two wickets to disturb Pakistan’s watchful start as they reached 53/2 at Lunch on Day 1 of the first Test between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford here on Wednesday.

At the break, opener Shan Masood and Babar Azam were batting on 27 and 4 respectively.

Electing to bat first, the tourists were off to a steady start as openers Shan Masood and Abid Ali put away the early threat from veteran new-ball bowlers James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

England captain Joe Root introduced the slippery Archer and it worked as the gun-quick rattled Ali’s stumps with a full delivery after setting him up with a barrage of bouncers in the previous over. Ali made the long walk back to the dressing room scoring 16.

Pakistan skipper Azhar Ali soon joined the opener as he was trapped in front by Woakes, failing to open his account.

Pakistan’s best batsman Babar was out in the middle with the team suddenly in need of a solid partnership. Masood looked composed at the other end with Archer mixing it up and Woakes hitting the deck hard and using the crease well to probe the batsmen.

It took Babar 15 balls to get off the mark, as he took a single to bring up Pakistan’s score to 50. The first session was interrupted by light rain.

Brief Scores: Pakistan 53/2 (Masood 27 batting, Babar 4 batting; Archer 1/7, Woakes 1/14) vs England

–IANS

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