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England 331-4 (Morgan 125no, Collingwood 81no) v Pakistan
First Test, Trent Bridge, day one
Scorecard
Eoin Morgan scored a sublime unbeaten century and Paul Collingwood reached 81 as England fought back to close day one of the opening Test against Pakistan at Trent Bridge on 331 for four.
They had been reduced to 118 for four in the afternoon session before the pair put on an unbroken stand of 213 for the fifth wicket, breaking a record that had stood since 1954, when Denis Compton and Trevor Bailey put on 193 at the same ground against the same opponents.
Morgan showed his class by reaching his century with a straight six, hitting 18 fours in addition as he flourished once he and Collingwood had ground out the runs in a tricky period after lunch.
Building on the wickets of openers Andrew Strauss (45) and Alastair Cook (8) before lunch, both men caught behind to Mohammad Amir, the left-armer had Jonathan Trott trapped in front playing no stroke for 38 and then Mohammad Asif bowled an out-of-touch Kevin Pietersen for nine to leave England with a big rebuilding job.
Just 22 runs were added in the first hour after lunch, but Morgan showed plenty of invention and Collingwood plenty of solidity as the ensured that it would be England's day.
It had not looked like that early on as runs were a struggle as Pakistan, put into the field by Strauss, used the early conditions well and Aamer should have had Strauss caught when, on 15, he edged to wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal, who missed a simple chance.
He was to have a poor day behind the stumps, missing a simple stumping later on that would have ended the Morgan-Collingwood partnership, and not helping as Pakistan made poor use of the review system.
They referred an lbw decision against Pietersen that was a fair call but a shout for an edge behind soon after never looked like it had hit the bat, which meant that later decisions that might have been overturned were left with the on-field umpires.
Aamer did have Cook caught by Imran Farhat at first slip when he edged before Strauss did fall, edging an attempted cut to Akmal, who this time made no mistake.
Trott looked fluent before Pietersen and his dismissal put Pakistan in the driving seat but they were themselves put on the backfoot by Morgan and Collingwood.
Morgan closed unbeaten on 125 in 182 balls while Collingwood had made 81 in 168 deliveries.
© Cricket World 2010
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