Pakistan lunch 76 2 against England

LONDON: Chris Woakes removed the Pakistan’s openers Muhammad Hafeez and Shaan Masood in a testing spell, but the Green Caps went in to lunch at 76 for 2 on the first morning of the Lord’s Test against England on Thursday.Azhar Ali was seven not out and Younis Khan 18 not out.This is the first of a four-Test series.Pakistan picked three left-arm pacemen — Mohammad Amir, Wahab Riaz and Rahat Ali — in their lineup with Yasir Shah as the lone specialist spinner.Mohammad Amir’s return to test cricket following a conviction for spot-fixing has dominated the build-up to the series, as has right-hander Joe Root moving up the order to number three for England.”Looks a good pitch and the sun is up, so we’ll bat first,” Misbah said after winning the toss.England captain Alastair Cook too would have preferred to bat first.”Always a tempter with a nice bit of green grass but we would have batted, looks a really good wicket,” he said.Nottinghamshire paceman Jake Ball makes his test debut in place of the injured James Anderson.”We’ve seen Jake for a few months now and he looks a really good bowler. Pakistan are a really good side and it’ll be a really good battle,” Cook said.Mushtaq Ahmed rang the five-minute bell alongside MCC chief executive Derek Brewer before starting the test match.img alt=”” height=”225″ src=”http://apne.thenews.com.pk/assets/front/tiny_mce/source/247169.3.jpg” width=”400″/