Pakistan reached 256 for seven at the close of an absorbing first day of cut-and-thrust Test cricket in Abu Dhabi, leaving England in the ascendancy in a match they simply have to win to stand any chance of taking the series.

The world's No. 1-ranked outfit could have had things turn out even better for them had they held on to two catching opportunities in the slips; James Anderson reacted late to an edge from the returning Monty Panesar, and captain Andrew Strauss fluffed a sitter off the self-same Anderson to reprieve Misbah-ul-Haq when he was on 30.

Captain Misbah played a steely innings in his signature style, going to his 12th fifty in 14 Tests as his country's captain, content to accumulate runs at a sedate pace.

He did briefly threaten to up the scoring tempo with two consecutive sixes off Panesar, but soon settled down again to concentrate on keeping the English bowlers out.

He went to his half-century with a beautifully-timed cover drive, and some sweetly-struck sixes and fours late in the day underlined how important his innings will be if Pakistan are to post a challenging first innings total. His team will be looking to him to continue anchoring the innings and scoring big tomorrow.

Panesar took his opportunity with both hands, looking to be a much-improved bowler since he was last seen him in an England shirt during the Ashes series of 2009. Coming into the side in the place of the injured Chris Tremlett (whose tour is now over due to a back spasm), he managed to get some assistance from the pitch almost instantly, and his use of drift and flight was impressive.

Getting through a hefty 32 overs in a day's play on your re-entry into Test cricket is no mean feat, and the turban-clad left-armer was also able to outshine his spin partner Graeme Swann at times.

Swann had made the first breakthrough of the innings when he bowled Taufeeq Umar after the batsmen failed to offer a shot, but subsequently struggled with his line in the session after lunch, dropping several deliveries short and seeming devoid of ideas.

He came back well later on to remove Asad Shafiq who had compiled 58 off 126 balls, sharing in a partnership of 100 with his skipper, Misbah.

Shafiq, who survived some early scares from Stuart Broad before finding some fluency in the middle part of his innings, seemed to lose concentration after tea and attempted several ungainly slogs.

His rash behaviour prompted Misbah to have a word with the 26-year-old, but he fell lbw to Swann shortly after. He executed several square cuts off the spinners that were played beautifully late, but couldn't dig in and finish the job - perhaps a little inexperience showing itself.

Anderson bowled fairly well with scant reward, but did manage to coax some reverse swing out of the ball in the middle of the day, and could prove dangerous on days three and four if he continues to do so. He will be frustrated that he was unable to snare a wicket, but only bowled 18 overs on a day where the spinners did the bulk of the work.

The standout bowler of the day, however, was Stuart Broad; he realised early on that he would have to rely on a good line and length rather than pace to get wickets on a fairly flat, dry pitch and it worked in his favour. His spells were consistently probing, back of a length on the off-stump and inviting the batsmen to play.

He got one to nip back off the seam to castle Younus Khan, the batsman playing the wrong line and leaving a gap between bat and pad. Three overs later it was Azhar Ali's turn, his stumps rearranged after being drawn forward into an attempted drive. England had their tails up, but Shafiq and Misbah then knuckled down to stall England's progress.

Earlier, Pakistan had won the toss and chosen to bat under overcast skies, the pitch at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium pitch appearing to be flat and fairly dry. It quickly became apparent that the new ball wasn't getting much movement early on, and Strauss introduced Panesar and Swann not long into the proceedings.

The ball began turning appreciably, and Saeed Ajmal (and to a lesser extent Mohammad Hafeez) will already be relishing the prospect of having a go at an English batting lineup that crumbled so easily in Dubai.

The Pakistani openers had looked solid, before they both fell within ten runs of each other; Hafeez seemingly setting a good platform before falling to an arm ball from Panesar for 31. Younus too looked in fine form before he departed, but Adnan Akmal and Abdur Rehman didn't stay long to trouble the scorers much, leaving Saeed Ajmal at the crease with his captain when stumps were drawn.

For the first time in recent memory, the over rate barrelled along at more than 15 to the hour, and 94 overs were completed before the end of play. The tandem bowling of Swann and Panesar as well as a fairly staid scoring rate all came into play, and the powers that be at the ICC will be pleased with such an effort, especially after the high profile banning of Indian captain MS Dhoni for two such infringements in the last year.

England will certainly be happy with the way proceedings unfurled on the first day, but there is still plenty of hard work to be done. If they can get Misbah early tomorrow and negate the Ajmal threat on a track that is already taking spin, they will go a long way to claiming the victory they so sorely need to re-assert their authority as the leading Test nation. England's batsmen will need to put their hands up - failure to do so could cost them the series.