England captain Alastair Cook celebrates his century with Joe Root during day one of the second Test match between England and Pakistan at Old Trafford.
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English skipper Alastair Cook won the toss and elected to bat first on batting friendly pitch.
Together with vice-captain Joe Root (87 not out), Cook put on 185 for the second wicket after Alex Hales (10) was bowled by Amir.
As the sun beat down, Cook took control of the strike and the run scoring, bursting with emotion when his 29 Test century arrived from 157 balls with 14 fours.
Leg-spinner Yasir Shah – who had tormented England with his 10-wicket haul – ended up wicketless as Pakistan toiled in the field.
Given Chris Woakes now looks to be in form – and was just about the only bowler to do anything in the first Test for England he will be another key to the puzzle.
Pakistan: Mohammad Hafeez, Shan Masood, Azhar Ali, Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq (capt), Asad Shafiq, Sarfraz Ahmed (wk), Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Amir, Rahat Ali, Yasir Shah.
Cook was 40 not out and Root unbeaten on 41, with the hosts looking to bounce back from losing last week´s first Test at Lord´s.
England continued to look good after the break, with Cook eventually making 105 before falling to Amir from the final ball before tea.
A typically composed Root brought up his century soon after and finished the day nine short of his 150.
England were now 25 for 1 after seven overs, but Root got off the mark with a straight driven four off Rahat.
Pakistan got their first wicket when Muhammad Amir bowled Alex Hales in the seventh over.
Amir got his revenge when Cook went back to a length ball and got an under-edge onto his stumps, and in early evening James Vince was unable to take advantage of a let-off at second slip – going after another wide drive and edging Rahat behind.
More signficantly, this was Cook’s first century in 20 Test innings since his monumental 263 against Pakistan in Abu Dhabi in October. “James Vince for example is clearly a quality batsman based on his first class record and technique, but there is talk of dropping him after four matches”.
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Gary Ballance, in at number five, alongside Root was also under pressure to make some runs.
