London: Alastair Cook and Paul Collingwood rescued England from potential embarrassment against an under-strength Pakistan attack on Thursday by batting through the afternoon on the opening day of the first Test at Lord's.
At tea the pair had taken England from 88 for three to 242 without further loss with Cook on 68 and Collingwood on 77.
Pakistan, who took the field without three of their first choice pace attack because of injuries, struck three times before lunch after Andrew Strauss had won the toss and opted to bat.
Strauss, captaining his country in a Test for the first time, was one of the victims when he was out leg before to Abdul Razzaq for 30, Marcus Trescothick was caught behind for 16 while Kevin Pietersen flourished all too briefly with 21 from 26 deliveries.
Cook was also dropped on nought off Umar Gul when Imran Farhat threw himself in front of his captain Inzamam-ul-Haq who was poised for a simple catch at first slip and spilled the chance.
England, who have drawn two and lost one of their three series since regaining the Ashes last September, had plenty to think about at lunch while Inzamam would have been delighted with his team's position, which owed more to poor shot selection than especially good bowling.
After the interval Collingwood and Cook were quickly into their stride, taking 23 runs off the first two overs bowled by Gul and leg spinner Danish Kaneria.
Collingwood on-drove Daneria to the mid-on boundary then cut Gul to third man for four and steered another boundary into the same area from the next delivery.
The pair rotated the strike sensibly and keep the run rate ticking along with some composed batting.
Collingwood brought up his fourth Test half-century with seven fours from 65 balls with a boundary through the covers.
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The hundred partnership then followed from 150 balls before Cook enjoyed two large slices of luck on 43 and 45.
Friendly Bowling
Umpire Steve Bucknor rejected an appeal for caught behind off Kaneria when a googly appeared to catch the outside edge of the Essex left hander's bat and the bowler then spilled a simple caught-and-bowled chance.
Cook profited from the let-offs to reach his third Test half-century from 123 balls with five fours.
In the first hour of the morning session Strauss and Trescothick took advantage of some friendly medium-pace from Gul and Mohammad Sami to put on 52 from 51 balls.
Trescothick was caught behind after pushing tamely at a full delivery to present wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal with a simple catch.
Six balls later, with no addition to the score, Strauss missed a straight delivery from Abdul Razzaq and was rapped on the pads directly in line with the stumps.
Pietersen unfurled some imperious drives before badly misjudging a straight delivery from the perservering Razzaq. The batsman lifted his bat high and was struck on his pads right in front of the stumps.
Swing bowler Matthew Hoggard, England's most experienced bowler, was passed fit after requiring six stitches in his right hand after he was spiked by a team mate last weekend.
But there was further bad news for Pakistan, who lost Asif on Wednesday evening when he failed to respond to a cortisone injection.
Opening batsman and off spinner Shoaib Malik was ruled out with a similar injury and the prolific Younis Khan pulled out with a knee injury.
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