Panesar takes five to put England on top

England 269 for 9 dec. (Cook 133) and 82 for 0 lead PCB XI 200 for 9 dec. (Hazan 50, Panesar 5 for 57) by 151 runs
Scorecard

Monty Panesar staked his claim for a Test recall with a five-wicket haul on the second day of England's final warm-up match against a Pakistan Board XI in Dubai. Panesar helped England end the day with a lead of 151 after their openers reached stumps on 82 without loss.

By outbowling Graeme Swann - who finished with just one wicket from his 29 overs - Panesar made a strong case for inclusion as the second spinner in the team for the first Test against Pakistan. Panesar's last Test came in Cardiff at the start of the 2009 Ashes and it would still require a significant change of heart from the England management to alter their policy of fielding three seamers and six specialist batsmen.

Panesar, making intelligent use of a worn pitch, sparked a collapse that saw the PCB XI lose five wickets for 28 runs. Only an unbeaten half-century from Raza Hasan frustrated England, with the teenage tailender recording his highest first-class score while adding 54 for the ninth-wicket with Mohammad Talha.

Panesar, sometimes hurrying the batsmen but also displaying some pleasing variation, first had Fawad Alam caught at short mid-wicket off bat and pad before Haris Sohail missed a straight one and Swann had Sarfraz Ahmed caught at silly-point. Mohammad Ayub Dogar was then caught behind off an outside edge before Yasir Shah was caught at slip.

But Hasan and Talha then resisted for 28 overs, with the latter twice heaving Swann for leg-side sixes, before Panesar found enough turn to take the edge of his bat.

Earlier there were wickets for seamers Graham Onions and Chris Tremlett. Onions, playing his first game for England in more than two years after a serious back injury, struck with the fourth ball of the day trapping Nasir Jamshed lbw before Tremlett defeated Afaq Raheem - half forward to one that struck him low on the pad - and had Usman Salahuddin caught behind, fencing at one outside off stump.

With Alastair Cook having scored heavily on this tour, England took the opportunity to provide extra batting practise for some of their other batsmen. Jonathan Trott, opening with Andrew Strauss, responded with an untroubled performance as the pair reached the close with few alarms.