Bairstow boosts hopes of retaining Test berth

England XI 286 for 5 (Bairstow 66*, Root 59, Cook 53, Rashid 51*, Gohar 3-72) v Pakistan A
Scorecard

Jonny Bairstow was the biggest beneficiary on the opening day of England's first warm-up match against Pakistan A, as he scored an unbeaten 66 to press his claims for retaining a spot in the middle order for the Test series.

Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Adil Rashid also began with half-centuries, but Moeen Ali fell for 22 after being given the first chance to open. Jos Buttler also failed in his first innings since a lean finish to the English season.

Bairstow was given the opportunity at No. 5 ahead of James Taylor, who had been tipped for a spot after his successful one-day series against Australia and prowess against spin. But Bairstow, who returned to the Test side against Australia at Edgbaston, took his chance after a sticky start where he reached 11 off 46 balls before hitting his first boundary. He ended with 66 off 112 deliveries.

The most fluent batting of the day came during the unbroken 103-run stand in 24 overs between Bairstow and Rashid, the latter skipping to a 78-ball fifty, while the pair opened up in the closing overs with a six apiece.

Pakistan A, who were boosted by the late inclusion of national captain Misbah-ul-Haq as he sought some practice ahead of the Test series, gave England a taste of what is to come by sending down a large quantity of spin - 50 overs in all - with left-armer Zafar Gohar finding the most success. Gohar claimed 3 for 72, which included the wickets of Bell, who had been given a life on 5 by Adnan Akmal, Buttler and Cook.

The first breakthrough of the day, though, went to pace when Moeen hooked Zia-ul-Haq to long leg where Ehsan Adil took a fine diving catch. Moeen had not always looked certain during his stay of just over an hour, but being given the first chance during the warm-up matches reinforces the view that he is the favoured route for the first Test.

Bell was scratchy during his stay either side of lunch and eventually fell lbw sweeping at Gohar, although he clearly thought he had hit the ball. Cook then tickled the same bowler to leg slip having reached his fifty off 126 balls, the sort of anchor role England will need on this trip.

Root had not batted in the middle since the final Ashes Test but soon found his groove. His fifty came off 84 balls and a short while afterwards he trotted off to allow others a chance before England's batting time ran out at the end of the day.

Ben Stokes could only manage 6 before he fell cutting at the offspin of Iftikhar Ahmed and Buttler was lbw to Gohar third ball. Buttler had problems against Nathan Lyon during the Ashes, a series where he made just 122 runs at 15.25, and it is not beyond the realms that his position as keeper in Tests becomes threatened by Bairstow if his returns do not improve on this tour.