England suffered a first innings batting collapse but still edged nearer to another crushing win over Pakistan, which trailed by 160 runs at close of play on day two of the second Test at Edgbaston Saturday. Pakistan, dismissed for a dismal 72 Friday before bowling England out for 251, reached 19 for one at the close with Imran Farhat unbeaten on 10 and Azhar Ali not out on 5. The wicket to fall was that of Pakistan captain Salman Butt (nought), defeated by a swinging James Anderson ball on off stump only to be caught by Andrew Strauss at first slip. Pakistan still have much to do to claw its way back into the game though the manner in which it finished off the England first innings would have given it encouragement. England lost its last seven wickets for 46 runs as recalled off-spinner Saeed Ajmal claimed five for 82. Less comforting would have been Pakistan's six dropped catches, including three missed chances offered by England's top scorer Kevin Pietersen, who made 80 but failed to register a first test hundred in 23 innings. Pakistan's inept fielding display was never better illustrated than when Butt dropped Graeme Swann at mid-off. It was Pakistan's sixth drop and coach Waqar Younis reacted by laughing, presumably in disbelief at his team's inadequacies in the field. Pietersen, dropped twice Friday, got another life on his overnight score of 36 off Mohammad Amir. An inside edge on to pad ballooned towards Umar Amin at gully but the fielder, distracted by an lbw appeal, spilt a simple chance. He received another controversial reprieve when on 41. As pace bowler Mohammad Asif approached his delivery stride, Pietersen started to pull away from his batting stance, but still played a half-hearted stroke and was caught by a diving Butt at mid-off. Pakistan claimed the catch but South African umpire Marais Erasmus signalled dead ball after it was taken. Butt appeared confused and upset by the ruling, while Pietersen reaffirmed his belief he was not ready to receive the ball. A senior official said Erasmus had verbally called it ‘dead ball' before Asif had delivered the ball.A boundary off the back foot through cover from Ajmal was a more assured stroke. But Pietersen's luck continued shortly after when he nicked Ajmal for four via the wicketkeeper's pad though it was not a chance. Pietersen's fluky but gutsy 147-ball effort finally ended when he offered a return catch to Ajmal. – ReutersScoreboard Pakistan (1st Innings) 72 England (1st Innings) A. Strauss c Zulqarnain b Asif 25 A. Cook c Akmal b Asif 17 J. Trott c sub (Hameed) b Amin 55 K. Pietersen c and b Ajmal 80 P. Collingwood c Farhat b Ajmal 28 E. Morgan c Zulqarnain b Asif 06 M. Prior lbw b Ajmal 15 G. Swann c and b Ajmal 04 S. Broad c sub (Hameed) b Ajmal 00 J. Anderson lbw b Aamer 00 S. Finn not out 00 Extras (b10, lb9, w1, nb1) 21 Total (all out, 83.1 overs) 251 Falls: 1-44 (Cook), 2-44 (Strauss), 3-177 (Trott), 4-205 (Pietersen), 5-220 (Morgan), 6-243 (Morgan), 7-248 (Collingwood), 8-248 (Broad), 9-251 (Anderson), 10-251 (Swann). Bowling: Aamer 20-4-57-2 (1w); Asif 20-5-41-2; Gul 9-1-24-0 (1nb); Ajmal 26.1-5-82-5; Amin 8-2-28-1.Pakistan (2nd Innings) I. Farhat not out 10 S. Butt c Strauss b Anderson 00 A. Ali not out 05 Extras (b2, lb2) 04 Total (1 wkt, 17.1 overs) 19 To bat: S. Malik, U. Akmal, U. Amin, Z. Haider, M. Aamer, U. Gul, S. Ajmal, M. Asif. Fall: 1-1 (Butt). Bowling: Anderson 6.1-5-1-1; Broad 7-2
