Zak Crawley brought up his maiden Test hundred to put England in a commanding position on the opening day of the third test against Pakistan at Southampton on Friday.
The home side made just a solitary change by including fast bowler Jofra Archer in place of Sam Curran, while the visitors went in with the same XI.
After winning the toss and electing to bat first, England suffered an early setback when Rory Burns nicked a Shaheen Afridi delivery to Shan Masood at fourth slip for 6. The left hander however stood his ground but replays confirmed it was a clean catch.
The pair of Dom Sibley and Crawley added 61 runs for the second wicket stand, before Sibley was trapped leg before wicket to Yasir Shah for 22.
Naseem Shah produced a superb delivery to get rid of Joe Root as he edged to wicket keeper Rizwan for 29, while Ollie Pope’s decision to play back to Yasir resulted in his downfall, as he was bowled for three leaving the home side in a spot of bother at 127/4.
Crawley along Jos Buttler helped England recover from a precarious 127/4 to 332/4, as the pair added an magnificent unbeaten 205 runs for the fifth wicket stand thereby tilting the game in home side’s favour, as well as vindicating the decision made by skipper Root to bat first.
The 22 year old batsman from Kent remained unbeaten on 171, while Buttler was not out on 87.
England at the end of day 1 finished at 332/4.
Yasir Shah was Pakistan’s best bowler as he picked up two wickets, while left arm fast bowler Shaheen along with Naseem bagged a wicket each.