England captain Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat in the fourth and final Test against Pakistan at The Oval on Thursday.
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Hales (6) whipped a full delivery from Mohammad Amir to midwicket; Yasir Shah dived to his right and, on first viewing, appeared to have taken a superb low catch – the leg-spinner jumping up and throwing the ball in celebration.
The Yorkshire duo of Gary Ballance and Jonny Bairstow were three not out and 13 not out respectively at the interval.
Pakistan also spilled Moeen twice and the pair grew in confidence, Bairstow hitting seven fours and Moeen a six and seven fours to drag their side back into the match as they bid to clinch the series they lead 2-1.
But with replays inconclusive, Wilson had no evidence on which to overturn his on-field colleagues’ initial call and Hales, shaking his head, left the field with England 23 for 1. Pakistan looked clueless as a team as nothing went their way along with some poor fielding effort and a dropped catch of Alastair Cook by debutant Iftikhar Khan at first slip.
Pakistan’s four-man attack have exhausted badly in the latter stages of recent Tests, although they could be bolstered at The Oval by the inclusion of Iftikhar Ahmed, a top-order batsman who bowls off-spin in place of the struggling Mohammad Hafeez.
Fortunately for Iftikhar, his error only cost a single, with Cook (35) playing on as he under-edged a pull off Sohail Khan.
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Root moved fluently on to 26 before he nicked Wahab Riaz to wicketkeeper Sarfraz Ahmed and Wahab produced a venomous delivery to account for Vince (one) in similar fashion.
