England recover from early losses of Andrew Strauss and Jonathan Trott in final warm-up ahead of Pakistan series

He shared stands of 83 for the third wicket with Kevin Pietersen and then 90 for the sixth with Matt Prior.

Talha took two wickets in four balls to put England in trouble in the seventh over after they were asked to bat first in this three-day match.

The swing bowler, included in Pakistan's Test squad here, had Andrew Strauss caught-behind with a very good delivery - and then number three Trott offered no shot to go lbw to one that nipped back.

Pietersen needed 10 balls to get off the mark, as he had in the first innings of England's previous tour match on this same ground.

But he was soon driving confidently, while Cook's outlet against pace was mostly on the back foot - before both batsmen manoeuvred comfortable runs up to lunch off spinners Raza Hasan and Yasir.

The afternoon began badly for England when Pietersen fell in the first over, picking the wrong ball to force away off the back foot and bowled by Yasir.

Bell was lbw to his second ball, attempting to sweep Yasir, and Morgan disappointingly picked out deep backward-square with a more expansive version of the same shot soon afterwards.

Yasir, in particular, was a test for all on a used pitch which was offering plenty of help for spin - albeit slowly - but Cook was equal to the task.

Prior, who missed England's first match with a bruised left ring finger, was in the mood to make the most of match batting practice before next week too - and dug in to keep Cook company and keep the tempo handy for the remainder of the session.

Prior's was the first of four wickets to fall after tea, nibbling an edge behind to a diving Sarfraz Ahmed.

Graeme Swann also took an attacking approach, and succeeded with a straight six off Yasir and two fours until he edged another attempted big shot behind off the leg-spinner.

Graham Onions, in his first match for his country for more than two years following a career-threatening back injury, fell to a one-handed catch at mid-on - and when Cook finally went caught-behind trying to cut, Strauss decided on a declaration which spared Chris Tremlett from having to bat so soon after recovering from an eye infection.

He did not have long to bowl either, before England turned to spin at both ends in conducive conditions - and in the final over of the day, Swann almost had Nasir Jamshed caught-behind on eight.

England set to win 261, first warm-up game against ICC XI

Strauss dominated the second stand wicket, his 50 67-ball with his 11th four education. But he was also to infer an antenna pay Haq.

Pietersen managed one before you a tumbling catch Rankin in the mid - on of his dockrell Irish party Fine Gael colleagues George, before Trott and Ian Bell new stabilized hunting.

Mohammad Shahzad second 50 of the game had frustrated England this morning.

Stuart broad (three for 22) struck in the fifth review of the day, for his match at the seven wickets route reached when Mohammad Nabi, implemented mid-off from.

But once, Shahzad has seen in the control. He raised his half-century 76-ball with a length of edge of documents for his ninth four in a James Anderson on the 16 tracks of cost.

It was Christ Viljoen, whose game was against 100 after its first 98 rounds before he was exhausted when he was sent again to a single and not in a position, removes a Monty Panesar - the as a fielder substitute for Graeme Swann hit.

Shahzad and a great blow to many in the stand-in Pietersen off the coast of spin, then think long-off - and after Rankin a blow to Steven Finn will be missed Porterfield, its called beaters.

Swann remained on the ground with the oppression in a muscle of the leg, but it was expected that, if bats.

England declare in arrears to ICC Combined XI as wickets worringly tumble in warm-up match for Pakistan series

But that prospect evaporated as Kevin Pietersen, Ian Bell, Eoin Morgan, Cook, Steven Davies and finally Broad failed to cash in on what looked an obvious opportunity to prosper.

Cook fared by far the best in a 121-ball innings which contained 14 fours, but no one else could reach 20. Fast bowler Hamid Hassan suffered a nasty injury chasing to the boundary to try to cut off the four which brought up the opener's 50, and would play no further part in the match.

England agreed Ireland spinner George Dockrell could replace Hassan for the second innings, after the Afghan seamer had pitched over a picket fence on the boundary and collided with concrete and metal runners around the sightscreen. He was eventually cleared of serious injury following a trip to hospital on a stretcher.

His absence had no bearing on England's troubles, although before lunch there was barely a hint of the collapse to come.

The only alarm for Cook came when Boyd Rankin discomforted him with a well-directed short one early in his innings.

The left-hander got in a tangle and was unable to get the ball effectively to ground, but no short-leg had been posted at that stage.

Soon afterwards Andrew Strauss pulled Hassan into the hands of square leg, and Jonathan Trott had only a single when he got a faint edge down the leg-side to be caught behind.

A watchful Pietersen needed 10 balls to get off the mark, but did so with a trademark big stride for a four through midwicket - and the rationale was that England needed only patience, on a slow but benign surface, to gradually take control.

Instead Pietersen nibbled an outside edge off Rankin soon after lunch, and Bell's attempt to glide runs behind square off his Warwickshire team-mate resulted in another catch behind when the 6ft 9in Irishman found extra bounce.

Then Morgan edged a Mohammad Nabi off-break to slip, and Cook toppled over and poked the blade down leg to be caught behind off Christi Viljoen.

Scotland off-spinner Majid Haq took a wicket with his first delivery - Davies lbw pushing forward - and Broad then unluckily picked out silly mid-off when he timed a back-foot shot off Nabi. Graeme Swann and James Anderson avoided any more losses until, five minutes before the scheduled tea break, Strauss chose to declare almost 100 runs in arrears.

There was partial vindication when, as in the first innings, Broad and Anderson served up useful new-ball spells as the Combined XI were reduced to eight for three this time.

After Will Porterfield and Paul Stirling's ducks, the two Irish openers had mustered only eight runs between them in four attempts. Porterfield nicked a catch behind down the leg-side off Anderson, and Broad pinned Stirling lbw.

Saqib Ali soon edged an attempted push-drive behind off Broad, and Craig Williams chipped a catch to cover off Swann.

But a stand of 40 between Kyle Coetzer and Mohammad Shahzad ended only when the former played on to Anderson, as the equations began to narrow for an England victory in this first warm-up match for the Test series against Pakistan.

Scoreboard (after day two):

ICC Combined XI 1st innings
281 (C. Viljoen 98, Mohammad Shahzad 51, B. Rankin 43; S. Broad 3-42, G. Swann 3-99)

England 1st innings

Strauss c Haq b Hassan 17

Cook c Shahzad b Viljoen 76

Trott c Shahzad b Hassan 1

Pietersen c Shahzad b Rankin 15

Bell c Shahzad b Rankin 3

Morgan c Stirling b Nabi 1

Davies lbw b Haq 12

Broad c Porterfield b Nabi 19

Swann not out 14

Anderson not out 12

Extras: (b8, lb4, nb 2, w1) 15

Total: (for eight wkts dec) 185

Fall of wickets: 1-44 (Strauss), 2-54 (Trott), 3-107 (Pietersen), 4-121 (Bell), 5-126 (Morgan), 6-132 (Cook), 7-159 (Davies), 8-159 (Broad).

Bowling: Hassan 11-4-26-2 (w1), Viljoen 11-1-42-1 (nb2), Nabi 14-3-42-2, Rankin 16-3-49-2, Haq 3-1-14-1

Overs: 55

-------

Combined XI 2nd innings

Porterfield c Davies b Anderson 0

Stirling lbw b Broad 0

Coetzer b Anderson 31

Saqib Ali c Davies b Broad 2

Williams c Bell b Swann 11

Mohammad Shahzad not out 34

Mohammad Nabi not out 9

Extras: (lb1, nb2) 3

Total: (For five wkts) 90

Fall of wicket: 1-0 (Porterfield), 2-2 (Stirling), 3-8 (Ali), 4-31 (William), 5-71 (Coetzer).

Bowilng: Anderson 12-6-29-2, Broad 9-5-15-2 (2nb), Swann 10-1-33-1, Finn 6-3-12 0

Overs: 37