Anderson and Broad cut a swathe through Pakistan's batting

Stuart Broad said England were grateful to lose the toss after skittling Pakistan for a woeful 72 on day one of the second Test at Edgbaston.

Broad and James Anderson swung the ball superbly in cloudy conditions to take four wickets each, and then England made 112-2 to lead by 40 at the close.

"I think we were going to bat but, with the conditions around, we certainly weren't disappointed to lose the toss.

"We just wanted to build pressure and the wickets came our way," said Broad.

Broad finished with 4-20, Anderson 4-38 and Steven Finn weighed in with 2-10 in a devastating display of fast bowling which gives England every chance of securing a 2-0 lead in the four-match series.

606: DEBATE Watching the current series between England and Pakistan it has become apparent Test cricket is beginning to split into two divisions manoffewwords

Broad added: "It looked quite hard to drive early, I thought the Pakistan batsmen were quite watchful early on and we had to try to make them play and come out of their shells.

"I think we had pretty clear plans, we had good communication and it worked out for us. Credit to the bowling unit, we knew we had to build pressure.

"We've not given them a sniff. For batsmen to get 24 and 32-ball noughts, it proves as a bowler you're giving them nothing."

The Nottinghamshire seamer took 8-52 in a county match at Edgbaston earlier in the season and was in the mood for more success.

"My confidence was high, but the fielding has been sublime as well, which always helps," he added.

"We've got slip catchers who are practising no end to improve themselves, because they know how important it is.

"We're putting huge amounts of pressure on the Pakistan batting line-up.

"We're bowling fantastically well and we've had slightly cloudy conditions which have suited us."

The idea was to put some runs on the board and then put pressure on England and I still think if we had taken our chances the match could have been pretty even Pakistan captain Salman Butt

Pakistan captain Salman Butt defended his decision to bat, despite the fragility of his side's batting, and claimed his side could have been back in the game if they had not dropped Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott early in their innings.

"This pitch will not change and, given these conditions, the ball will keep swinging," he insisted.

"The idea was to put some runs on the board and then put pressure on England and I still think if we had taken our chances the match could have been pretty even."

Pietersen was dropped twice and Trott once and they will resume their partnership on Saturday morning.

"It's something hard to contend with, but it happens and is part of the game," he said.

As for his team's poor batting, with veteran Mohammad Yousuf not selected because of a lack of practice after being called up from Lahore, Butt added: "We've been doing this all our lives and we have to clean up our own mess.

"But we also have to give credit to the English bowling. For the first 20 overs they didn't give us literally anything to hit.

"They used the conditions brilliantly. Anderson again bowled brilliantly and kept the pressure on."

Broad stressed that Pakistan's batsmen could expect no let-up when they bat again.

"We know they're quality players - they beat Australia - but we've made full use of the conditions," he said.

"The Pakistan batsmen have fallen victim to that for three innings but we know it's a four-Test series and how much series can to and fro. So it's important we keep looking to improve all the time."

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