A post-tea collapse, triggered by Mohammad Abbas and Hasan Ali, two pacemen of Pakistan who look tailor-made for English conditions, punctured any early-summer optimism in the home camp in the space of seven overs.

The stands were full as the final session began since this was no time for gossiping with old friends out the back. The Royals were dominating everyone’s attention again – the Rajasthan Royals, that is. The score was a less than satisfactory 165 for five but in the 20 minutes before tea Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, fresh from the Indian Premier League, had hinted at a glorious Tamasha after tea. Buttler had cruised to 13 in no time while Stokes, in exemplary Test fashion, had reached 36. It was compulsory to be back in the bucket seats in time for the resumption.

Hasan Ali and Mohammad Abbas show Pakistan attack is no pushover Read more

Instead of a dazzling Bollywood counterattack, there was a horror show of X-certificate proportions. Five wickets fell for 19 runs and England were bowled out for a paltry 184, not what Joe Root had anticipated when winning the toss.

This ugly procession began with a shrewd review by Pakistan against Stokes. When the delivery from Abbas struck Stokes’s pad the naked eye suggested that the ball must have pitched outside his leg stump; the replay demonstrated otherwise, providing a reminder that Abbas gets commendably close to the stumps upon delivery. Two balls later Buttler flashed hard against Hasan and Asad Shafiq held a stinging catch at second slip. The Royals had been dethroned.

There was no wagging of the tail. Dom Bess, after clipping his first Test boundary, was caught at second slip; Stuart Broad was so lbw that he did not bother to review even though there were still two available and Mark Wood had an unsuccessful swish. The spectators had been glued to their seats for the wrong reasons.

Not that the upper order had offered much reassurance. Without a resolute 70 from Alastair Cook, only the third time he has passed 50 in his last 25 Test innings (on the other two occasions he scored 243 and 244 not out), England might have been fielding before tea.

After an early stream of boundaries Cook recognised the problem. The ball was swinging on to a surface that had retained a tinge of green despite the dryness of the soil underneath, which meant that the captain winning the toss did not have an easy decision to make.

So Cook set out to blunt a probing Pakistan attack. His feet moved more positively than in New Zealand, with the right one further down the track to the fuller deliveries, which were frequent since the bowlers recognised the virtue of pitching full with the Duke ball swinging obediently.

The others were nowhere near as reassuring as Cook. Mark Stoneman was dismissed by a good ball from Abbas but he should not have been bowled by it – lbw might have been a better dismissal. He pushed away from his body and the ball crept through the gate that had been created. He did not look in great form; accomplished Test players can cope with that but Stoneman has yet to graduate to that level.

Root was the most obviously culpable of the batsmen. Having been tied down for 23 balls he swished at a very wide swinging delivery from Hasan and Sarfraz Ahmed gleefully accepted the catch in front of first slip. Dawid Malan, on the back foot, edged his third delivery. The suspicion remains that his technique is better suited to the truer, bouncier surfaces of Australia.

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Jonny Bairstow suggested permanence alongside Cook but was bowled for 27 by the first ball of a new spell from Faheem Ashraf. There followed a brisk 49-run partnership between Cook and Stokes, who hit the solitary six of the day off the leg-spinner Shadab Khan – it was not a day for a tweaker of any sort. Then Cook, stuck on the crease, was bowled by a trimmer from Amir that beat his outside edge. Arguably the best ball of the day had dismissed the day’s best batsman. A little flurry from Stokes and Buttler and the innings was over.

All the while Pakistan had been disciplined and patient in the field. Their quartet of pacemen bowled full enough to allow the ball to swing – and they received excellent support, a flying catch at mid-on by Amir to polish off the innings reflecting that.

Batting was not much easier when Pakistan came out in gloomy conditions, with Broad, striding in from the Nursery End, offering the greatest threat. He removed Imam-ul-Haq, lbw after a review.

Later Haris Sohail, on 16, was dropped off the bowling of Wood, who had been preferred to Chris Woakes in the morning; Stokes, poaching a catch that should have been destined for Malan at second slip, was the unlikely culprit. That aside Azhar Ali and Sohail batted with discretion, fine judgment and hope in the last hour to take Pakistan to 50 for one at stumps. You always bat with hope having bowled the opposition out for 184. On Friday the tourists can add expectation.