England win toss and bat against Pakistan

England captain Andrew Strauss won the toss and elected to bat against Pakistan in the first Test of a four-match series at Trent Bridge here on Thursday.

England dropped Tim Bresnan from their 12-man squad. Bresnan had been a late replacement for fellow Yorkshire seamer Ajmal Shahzad, who withdrew with an ankle injury on Wednesday.

This was England batsman Kevin Pietersen's first match for nearly a month because of a thigh injury.

Pietersen's right foot and ankle were both strapped up after he trod on a stray football during practice here on Wednesday but the South Africa born shotmaker was passed fit.

Pakistan were unchanged from the team that beat Australia by three wickets at Headingley last week to level a two-Test series at 1-1.

That match saw Pakistan lose the toss toss and bowl Australia out for just 88 in their first innings in similarly overcast conditions.

For this series, the controversial Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), which allows teams two unsuccesful challenges per innings, was in use in England for the first time with South Africa's Marais Erasmus the third umpire.

Thi was the first Test between England and Pakistan since their meeting at The Oval in 2006 where Pakistan forfeited the match, and so handed England victory, after refusing to take the field having been being penalised for ball-tampering.

Teams

England: Andrew Strauss (capt), Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott, Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Matt Prior (wkt), Graeme Swann, Stuart Broad, Steven Finn, James Anderson

Pakistan: Salman Butt (capt), Imran Farhat, Azhar Ali, Umar Amin, Umar Akmal, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal (wkt), Mohammad Aamer, Umar Gul, Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Asif

Umpires: Tony Hill (NZL) and Asoka de Silva (SRI)

TV umpire: Marais Erasmus (RSA)

Match referee: Ranjan Madugalle (SRI)

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