England drop catches but seven Pakistan wickets see Andrew Strauss's men take upper hand in Abu Dhabi

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.

Monty Panesar stakes claim for Test return with five wickets but England fail to convince against PCB XI

“I’ve bowled 29 overs today so, if they go for two spinners, I’m ready to play,” said Panesar, whose last Test was in 2009. “I feel I’m getting better all the time as a spinner.”

Picking Panesar alongside Swann for the opening Test is not a fait accompli. Panesar succeeded on what was essentially a sixth-day pitch (combining the last three-day game, two days of this match and the day off between).

What should concern ­England is Swann’s limited threat. He has taken only four wickets in 54 overs, a return that in the dark old days of the 1980s would have made him vulnerable to the chop.

“Graeme is the No 1 spinner and he’ll play,” Panesar said. “If they look to play a second spinner, then I’m ready. But we’ve also got very skilful bowlers in our pacemen so we have many permutations.”

That point was amplified by Chris Tremlett, who bowled well for his two wickets, outperforming Graham Onions despite being asked to bowl his opening spell into a minor sandstorm, whipped up by strong morning winds.

In the spirit of these three-day games, the PCB XI declared their innings, allowing Strauss and Jonathan Trott to bat out the final session. Given a chance to start against pace and not spin, Trott responded with an unbeaten 39 as they extended England’s lead to 151 going into the final day.

Scoreboard:

England 1st innings: 269-9 decl (A. Cook 133, M. Prior 46; Yasir Shah 5-75, Mohammad Talha 4-43)

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PCB XI 1st innings:

• Nasir Jamshed lbw b Onions 12

• Afaq Raheem lbw b Tremlett 17

• Mohammad Ayub c Prior b Panesar 33

• Usman Salahuddin c Prior b Tremlett 23

• Fawad Alam c Strauss b Panesar 7

• Haris Sohail lbw b Panesar 6

• Sarfraz Ahmed c Trott b Swann 0

• Yasir Shah c Swann b Panesar 9

• Mohammad Talha c Prior b Panesar 31

• Mohammad Khalil not out 1

Extras: (b3, lb6, w2) 11

Total: (for nine wkts) 200

Fall of wickets: 1-24 (Jamshed), 2-40 (Raheem), 3-78 (Salahuddin), 4-91 (Alam), 5-106 (Sohail), 6-106 (Sarfraz), 7-110 (Ayub), 8-119 (Shah), 9-173 (Talha)

Bowling: Onions 13-3-52-1 (w2), Tremlett 14-7-30-2, Swann 18-5-42-1, Panesar 29-12-57-5, Petersen 5-0-10-0

Overs: 79

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England 2nd innings:

Extras: (b4, nb2, w1) 7

Total: (for no loss) 82

Bowling: Talha 6-1-32-0 (nb2, w1), Khalil 5-2-12-0, Hasan 7-0-26-0, Shah 3-0-5-0, Ayub 1-0-3-0

Overs: 22

England captain Andrew Strauss finds form as tourists beat ICC Combined XI by three wickets

Strauss and Alastair Cook took advantage of the absence of injured strike bowler Hamid Hassan in an opening stand of 63 in less than 12 overs until the latter was much too early on a pull in Craig Williams' first over and fell to a fine catch by Majid Haq.

Jonathan Trott was in grave danger of departing caught down the leg-side for the second time in the match, this time for a duck, until the umpires concluded the edge off Boyd Rankin had not quite carried.

Strauss dominated the second-wicket stand, bringing up his 67-ball 50 with his 11th four. But he too was to pay for an aerial pull, off Haq.

Kevin Pietersen then managed only a single before falling to a tumbling catch by Rankin at mid-on off his Irish compatriot George Dockrell, the second wicket in the space of six balls.

Trott and Ian Bell steadied the chase again either side of tea, but neither could complete the assignment.

Trott's attempt to dominate Mohammad Nabi (three for 66) failed when he reined in to defence from up the wicket and fell to a sharp bat-pad catch at short leg.

Eoin Morgan went cheaply to Rankin, the latest of several in this match to fall to a catch behind down the leg-side.

Then after Bell's bizarre dismissal, paddle-sweeping Nabi via a deflection into the hands of slip running round to the leg-side, at 199 for six the outcome was in the balance.

But Broad and Davies, who survived one close call off Nabi with a half-chance to wide mid-off on 20, did not panic.

Broad had a moment of fortune too, reprieved with 18 still needed by a poor throw and Nabi's failure to gather when he seemed sure to be run out.

The seventh-wicket pair were therefore able to settle the match in a stand of 61 - with almost nine overs to spare, even though Broad holed out with scores level.

Earlier, Mohammad Shahzad's second 50 of the match had frustrated England this morning.

Broad (three for 22) struck in the fifth over of the day, to take his match haul to seven wickets, when Nabi mis-pulled to mid-off.

But Shahzad again looked in control. He brought up his 76-ball half-century with an edge wide of the slips for his ninth four, in a James Anderson over which cost 16 runs.

He had been joined by Christi Viljoen, whose match tally went past 100 following his first-innings 98 before he was run out when he was sent back for a single and unable to beat a throw from Monty Panesar - on as a substitute fielder for Graeme Swann.

Shahzad then aimed one big shot too many at Pietersen's stand-in off-spin, holing out at long-off - and after Rankin missed a swipe at Steven Finn, Will Porterfield called his batsmen in.

- Swann did not bowl and stayed off the field with tightness in a leg muscle, until coming out to bat with one run required.

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

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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