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This was England's day: no question about that.

And Pakistan's captain, Waqar Younis, must have been tearing his hair out.

There is nothing more frustrating as a seam bowler than knowing that the conditions favour you, but you fail to exploit them and Waqar would have been doubly disappointed.

Not only did he have a poor day with the ball himself, but it came after he, as captain, made absolutely the right decision in asking England to bat first.

Pakistan's selection was also flawed. There was the scope to play one of their high quality spinners, Saqlain or Mushtaq.

Yet they went into the match with no fewer than five seam bowlers and only part-time spinner Younis Khan as variation.

This really was a shortsighted policy. You never need more than four pace bowlers in the same team and Saqlain is a superb bowler in any conditions.

I wonder what he felt as he sat helplessly on the balcony and watched Younis purvey his leggies.

England, on the other hand, will be delighted with their day.

I have no doubt that Nasser Hussain would have fielded first had he won the toss for once - he has now lost 11 of the last 12 - and he knew the ball would move off the seam because the pitch was damp.

Atherton and Trescothick batted so positively, however, that Pakistan's seam bowlers - who are short of bowling on this rain-affected trip - could not settle into a consistent line.

Thorpe and Hussain show

Wasim was particularly disappointing because he is not an 'effort' bowler like Waqar or Shoaib and he knows precisely how to bowl in these conditions.

In the end, it was left to Azhar Mahmood to show his more illustrious colleagues how to do it.

His first two overs were too wide of the off stump, but all the signs were there that if he could only bowl straight, his reduced pace would cause problems.

And so it proved. Vaughan was unlucky to edge a catch down the leg side but there was no doubt at all about the beauty he produced to clean bowl Atherton for 42.

Azhar continued to probe away between lunch and tea, producing the remarkable figures of 2 for 14 from 14 overs.

Hussain and Thorpe then dominated the final session of the day as, once again, Pakistan rather lost their way.

England will have their eyes on 400 by the third day and if they reach their target, Pakistan could find themselves under pressure, despite the fact that one day has been lost to rain.