An unbeaten century from Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq gave his side the upper hand after day one of the second Test despite England’s bowlers enjoying early rewards.

Wickets from James Anderson, Ben Stokes, Moeen Ali and Mark Wood reduced the hosts, who chose the bat first after winning the toss, to 178-4 before Misbah’s 102* lifted them to 282-4 by close.

England captain Alastair Cook was once again on the wrong side of the toss at the start of the day with his bowlers failing to make inroads during the first hour.

However, early turn from Ali saw Mohammad Hafeez caught at short leg by Jonny Bairstow before a further piece of brilliance from the same fielder accounted for first Test double-centurion Shoaib Malik.

Stokes attacked the body of Malik who duly turned the ball off the face of the bat in Bairstow’s direction who parried the ball before completing a diving one-handed catch.

Shan Masood, who made scores of two and one in the first Test, weathered the storm and alongside Younis Khan, the pair played out the rest of the session.

Masood was unable to kick on though, Anderson finding a feather of an edge to dismiss him for 54 with the first ball after lunch, the opener content with his work on the first morning.

"My job is to stay focused, I've been hitting the ball really well so I was disappointed in Abu Dhabi. I wanted to rectify that and just hit the loose balls,” Masood said.

“I can't ask for a better dressing room for support, with the captain, and [coaches] Waqar Younis and Grant Flower as well.

“As an opener life is hard because you have to keep switching on and off, these are things you learn through the course of your career.

"If we can bat an hour tomorrow and let Misbah play his natural game, hopefully we can take the game away from them."

Khan and Misbah added 93 for the fourth wicket with the former adding his 30th Test half century to 30 hundreds in the longest format before he was caught down the leg side off Wood for 52.

The rest of the day was dominated by Misbah, the Pakistan skipper completing his century in style off the final over of the day by smashing two sixes off Ali and going to the landmark with a reverse-sweep.

Finishing the day unbeaten on 102, Misbah is the oldest Test centurion since Bobby Simpson for Australia in 1978 and England quick Wood knows early wickets will be crucial on the second morning.

"If we could have had one more wicket, we'd have said it was a really good day,” he said.

"At number eight they've got a bowler, so if we can get into them early doors tomorrow, then hopefully we can knock over the tail pretty quickly.

"The wicket was probably easier to score on than Abu Dhabi, a bit more skiddy, which suits my type of bowling. But all in all, it's a better pitch to bat on."

 

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