England vs Pakistan – menacing Aamer pegs England back

Pakistan’s teenage seam bowler Mohammad Aamer continued his impressive form as he reduced England to 103 for two at lunch on the first day of the first Test at Trent Bridge.

The first to go for just eight runs, Alastair Cook was dismissed in typical fashion, prodding a ball from Aamer to the grateful grasp of Imran Farhat at first slip.

Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott then steadied the England innings, before Strauss fell for 45, caught behind by Kamran Akmal after flashing loosely at an Aamer delivery.

At the first interval, England were priced at 8/13 to win the Test.

Akmal will have been relieved to hold his catch from Strauss, having dropped a simple chance from the same batsman when he had made only 15 runs.

Thanks to the decision review system –used in England for the first time – Trott also survived a scare, as he successfully appealed against an lbw decision.

England’s latest pace hope Steven Finn was recalled to the starting line-up at the expense of fellow seamer Tim Bresnan, who was called into the squad as a replacement for the injured Ajmal Shahzad.

As expected, Pakistan were also unchanged from the team which beat Australia by three wickets at Headingley last week.

Andrew Strauss won the toss, and despite the significant threat posed by a strong Pakistan attack with cloudy skies in their favour, chose to bat first.

Can Akmal make up for his dropped catch? He is 10/1 to top-score for Pakistan in the first innings. See the full England vs Pakistan Betting Odds market.