Pakistan in England

London, May 19: Pakistan coach Richard Pybus defended his side's decision to leave out Saqlain Mushtaq, arguably the world's best off-spinner, from their line-up as England closed on the second day of the first Test here at Lord's Friday on 254 for four.

At the close England captain Nasser Hussain was 53 not out and earlier Graham Thorpe had taken a classy 80 off a pace quartet that was supplemented only by the occasional leg-spin of Younis Khan.

The decision to leave Saqlain, who has taken 145 Test wickets at an average of 29.60, on the sidelines was all the more baffling given how he thrives in English conditions. Saqlain, the master of the 'mystery ball' has been a key figure in Surrey's back-to-back county championship triumphs of the past two seasons and last summer he took 66 championship wickets at 15.39.

His ability to turn the ball on surfaces where other spinners struggle is well-known and Pybus said: "It wasn't easy to leave out Saqlain. We thought it would do a little bit more than it did. We thought it was a seamer's track but we've picked the side now and that's what we've got."

The match, which was washed out completely on the opening day on Thursday, was England's 100th Test at Lord's and also marked the return of Shoaib Akhtar in his first Test since he played against Sri Lanka in March 2000. The 'Rawalpindi Express' had been struggling with gastroenteritis but was selected because of fellow paceman Mohammad Sami's shin injury.

"Shoaib bowled up a bit of gas. He could have had a couple of poles (wickets) and he went through some of their batsmen on a slow pitch which was very pleasing," Pybus added.

Shoaib finished the day with figures of 13-4-32-0 but it was medium-quick Azhar Mahmood who claimed the bowling honours with an analysis of 18-10-29-2, his accuracy seeing him take two wickets for no runs in 18 balls as he dismissed Michael Vaughan for 23 and then clean bowled Michael Atherton for 42 in the former England captain's 200th Test innings.

But Thorpe, who shared a stand of 132 with his captain, was a thorn in Pakistan's side until in the 86th over he fell into a hooking trap set by captain Waqar Younis that saw him caught at long leg by Abdur Razzaq.

"Graham Thorpe really impressed me," said Pybus. "Nasser Hussain was struggling to begin with but Thorpe helped pull him through. England are edging it at the moment but it only takes a couple of balls to change things."

Surrey left-hander Thorpe was modest about his own achievement. "We needed a partnership and Nasser and I produced it. Hopefully we can get through lunch, get to 400 and then bowl out Pakistan in a day.