A brilliant century from Moeen Ali salvaged England’s first innings in the fourth Test against Pakistan following an engrossing opening day at The Oval.
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But Ali’s 108 helped England to a total of 328 before he was last man out.
Pakistan, trailing 2-1 in the series, then ran into early trouble in their reply when Sami Aslam was trapped leg before wicket by Stuart Broad.
Pakistan finished the day on 3-1, with Azhar Ali and nightwatchman Yasir Shah yet to score.
England, 2-1 up in the four-match series and bidding to become the world’s top-ranked Test side, collapsed to 74 for four before lunch after captain Alastair Cook won the toss.
Ali could have found himself back in the pavilion much sooner, however, after being struck on the head with his very first ball from Wahab Riaz.
After Barstow’s departure further bursts of resistance with Chris Woakes (79 for the seventh wicket) and Jimmy Anderson (32 for the final wicket) showed Moeen’s skill with the tail.
Pakistan fast bowler Sohail Khan has taken another five-wicket haul on the first day of fourth and final Test match at Oval.
With Enaland on 296 for nine and Moeen still 11 runs short of his hundred, a lot rested on James Anderson’s ability to stick with his team-mate.
It is not easy but Moeen makes everything look just that, never more so than when charged with clearing the ropes to bring up his century and gifted an airy offering from Yasir Shah, he swept the ball gracefully over deep midwicket.
“It’s the second time I’ve been hit here first ball – Mitchell Johnson did it to me previous year – but I stayed calm”, he told Sky Sports.
“(Australia’s) Mitchell Johnson did it to me past year. “I stayed calm and I just carried on playing, I wasn’t fazed at all”.
“It was a great day in the end, we’d take 320”.
“I feel I have made an impact with the bat and I hope I can do the same with the ball”, he added.
However, the 29-year-old’s innings on Thursday was the third of his Test centuries and the second of his season after his 155 not out against Sri Lanka at Chester-le-Street in May. He was eventually the last man out, caught in the deep by Yasir hooking at Sohail, who kissed the pitch in celebration of his fifth wicket.
Cook chose to bat first despite overcast conditions and a green-tinged pitch offering the promise of assistance for Pakistan’s seamers.
Cook made a fluent 35 before dragging an attempted pull on to his stumps, while Root was caught behind for 26 fencing at Wahab. Wahab took 3 wickets for 93 runs.
Cook, who resisted the temptation to include an extra spinner in Adil Rashid, named an unchanged side, which means one more chance for James Vince to prove his worth as a Test batsman, after two promising but unfulfilled scores of 39 and 42 in England’s third-Test win at Edgbaston last week.
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Riaz had Root edging a wide, lifting delivery to Sarfraz Ahmed behind the stumps, and then got Vince in similar fashion, with an even better delivery.
