Panesar was the first to drop - a firmly hit straight-drive off the front foot by Mohammed Hafeez. Perhaps because of his reprieve, Hafeez played back to his next ball and was bowled.
It was Panesar’s first Test wicket since July 2009 and well-deserved. He harnessed the crosswind to bowl most of the day from the pavilion end and, considering he was driven for five sixes, he has justified his selection in place of Chris Tremlett.
Panesar should also have had the big wicket of Pakistan’s captain Misbah ul-Haq, when he had made 30 and pushed forward. The edge was dropped by Anderson to his right at slip, allowing Misbah to bat out the day for an undefeated 83.
Since Paul Collingwood retired a year ago, Anderson has been England’s first-choice slip for the spinners, and he rarely misses anything in practice when the ball comes every few seconds. But in a Test match on Pakistani soil (like this one) it is often one slip chance a day, at most.
It was like that for Strauss as well, at first slip, when Adnan Akmal scythed at the second new ball. It flew relatively high, for a slow pitch. In Australia Strauss might have had his fingers pointing up not down.
In between those two slip misses, Cook at short-leg got his right hand to a bat-pad chance that Asad Shafiq offered off Graeme Swann. Shafiq, 53, made only a few more but it was still another dent in England’s aspirations for levelling this series.
Overall, England’s choice of two swing-and-seamers and two spinners worked well. It was the first time since 2003 they had gone into a Test with spinners making up half of their specialist bowlers.
Anderson and Stuart Broad found a bit of seam movement off the dry surface, which must have been an agreeable surprise, in addition to the slow turn for England’s spinners. Broad is the ultra-modern England pace bowler, more at home on a dry pitch than a traditional English greentop.
But skilfully as Broad bowled for his three wickets, the day belonged to Misbah, who not only papered over the cracks in Pakistan’s batting but added a couple of coats of paint.
After driving two early sixes off consecutive balls from Panesar, he allowed his young partner Asad Shafiq to take the lead in a century stand, which put Pakistan on top.
When Shafiq was dismissed, Misbah played enough shots against the second ball - mainly some handsome offdrives - to keep his country on top, just, given the lack of form of England’s batsmen and the assistance that Pakistan’s spinners will obtain.
Only when Broad bounced him a couple of times was Misbah discomforted, and then he retorted by driving Panesar again for two consecutive sixes in the final over. More of the same today and the captain’s innings could be the match-winning one, as at this stage a definite result looks likely.