Given how vulnerable England’s top order were in the Sri Lanka series, and how good the Pakistan bowling attack is with the likes of Mohammad Amir and Wahab Riaz, they need an immediate turn around on Day 2.
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Remarkably, this was also Misbah’s first Test anywhere in England, with selection decisions having kept him out of previous tours.
Misbah and Shafiq led Pakistan’s recovery from 134-4 on a slow pitch before Woakes claimed two late wickets with the second new ball.
The 25-year-old, who was brought in to replace injured James Anderson, looked threatening early on, and was duly rewarded in his second spell when he trapped Azhar Ali lbw to pick up his first global wicket. He never really got going in the morning session, making just seven off 29 before edging behind to Jonny Bairstow. The same combination then dismissed Hafeez for 40.
The 42-year-old, whose ton was all the more impressive as this was also his first-class innings at the “home of cricket”, shot off a salute before he got on all fours.
He sent a lovely ball veering past the edge of the incoming Riaz’s bat, before splaying the stumps with his next delivery to send the batsman back to the pavilion with a duck.
He, and his team-mates, were unable to shift Misbah, who celebrated his 10th Test hundred uniquely by first of all saluting the dressing room and then dropping to the floor to do a press-up for each of his centuries.
Pakistan were in trouble at 77 for three when Misbah came to the crease on Thursday.
He was dropped on 16 by Joe Root, who grassed a tough slip chance off fast bowler Steven Finn. Pakistan had won the match by a massive margin of 164 runs, Yasir will hope for the same result this time around.
Amir ended the day with figures of 1-65 from 18 overs and received only minor barracking from the crowd in response to the spot-fixing scandal that cost him five years of his career.
While several English cricketers have opposed the comeback of Pakistani speedster Mohammad Amir, Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar has thrown his weight behind the youngster, saying there should be no problem with his comeback since he has served his sentence.
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Amir bowled deliberate no-balls at Lord’s in 2010 and was banned along with teammates Salman Butt and Mohammad Asif.
