James Anderson made his 28th birthday a memorable one with a five-wicket haul that puts England in control of the first Test against Pakistan. On a day that saw 15 wickets falling for 170 runs, Pakistan were 147 for nine, still needing eight more runs to avoid follow-on, after restricting England to 354 in the first innings. Only Shoaib Malik (38) could make any substantial contribution to the score; just four other batsmen - Imran Farhat (19), Azhar Ali (14), Mohammad Aamer (25) and Umar Gul (batting 30) - entered double digits.
On a cloudy day in Nottingham, Anderson celebrated his birthday with his ninth five-wicket (5-49) haul in Test cricket, while Steven Finn continued his impressive entry into international cricket with three for 20. Salman Butt, the Pakistan captain, was Anderson's first victim, poking his bat at an outswinger. Imran Farhat then also fell as he edged another Anderson beauty. Finn then got the edge of Umar Amin's bat and Umar Akmal fell in identical fashion. Kamran Akmal became Finn's third victim, hanging his bat out to give a simple catch to Paul Collingwood at third slip.
Five Pakistan wickets fell for just 15 runs and the visitors were reduced to 47 for six before Malik, Aamer and Gul took them closer to the follow-on margin. Malik and Aamer added 58 runs before the former Pakistan captain became Anderson's fourth wicket of the innings, edging to Andrew Strauss at slips. Aamer's resistance ended three runs later, but Gul's breezy innings keeps Pakistan's hopes of avoiding the follow-on alive.
Earlier in the morning, England, 331 for four overnight, lost their last six wickets for a mere 23 runs in 14.1 overs as Mohammed Asif ripped through the lower-half. Collingwood (82) was the first to depart, trapped leg-before in the sixth over of the day after adding just one run to his score. Eoin Morgan (130) followed seven runs later, another lbw victim, and Matt Prior was run-out following a mix-up with Graeme Swann. Asif then completed his five-wicket haul for the innings by dismissing Graeme Swann and Stuart Broad off consecutive deliveries. * Compiled by Ahmed Rizvi
England (1st innings, overnight 331-4): A Strauss c Kamran Akmal b Mohammad Aamer 45 A Cook c Imran Farhat b Mohammad Aamer 8 J Trott lbw b Mohammad Aamer 38 K Pietersen b Mohammad Asif 9 P Collingwood lbw b Mohammad Asif 82 E Morgan lbw b Mohammad Asif 130 M Prior run out 6 G Swann lbw b Mohammad Asif 2 S Broad b Umar Gul 3 J Anderson lbw b Mohammad Asif 0 S Finn not out 0 Extras: (b-5, lb-14, w-5, nb-7) 31 Total (all out; 104.1 overs) 354 Fall of wickets: 1-42, 2-93, 3-116, 4-118, 5-337, 6-344, 7-351, 8-354, 9-354 Bowling: Aamer 24-7-41-3 (1w), Asif 27-9-77-5, Gul 18.1-5-61-1 (5nb), Kaneria 21-0-100-0 (2nb), Malik 11-2-39-0, Ali 1-0-9-0, Amin 1-0-3-0, Farhat 1-0-5-0. Pakistan (1st innings): Imran Farhat b Anderson 19 Salman Butt c Prior b Anderson 1 Azhar Ali c Prior b Anderson 14 Umar Amin c Swann b Finn 2 Umar Akmal c Swann b Finn 4 Shoaib Malik c Strauss b Anderson 38 Kamran Akmal c Collingwood b Finn 0 Mohammad Aamer c Swann b Anderson 25 Umar Gul not out 30 Danish Kaneria b Broad 7 Mohammad Asif not out 0 Extras: (b-5, lb-2) 7 Total (nine wickets; 50 overs) 147 Fall of wickets: 1-5, 2-32, 3-35, 4-41, 5-45, 6-47, 7-105, 8-108, 9-147 Bowling (to date): Anderson 20-6-49-5, Broad 17-4-59-1, Finn 11-5-20-3, Swann 2-1-12-0