Pakistan v England: tourists steal early advantage as wickets tumble on opening day The Decision Review System seems to be working in favour of the umpire who is trigger-happy. On the replays, a ball has only to be shown as clipping the very outside of legstump for the umpire's LBW verdict to be upheld. But that, surely, has to be a bad decision, if the ball is all but missing the stumps. A senior batsman on each side was dispatched by a ball that was clipping leg-stump, Misbah ul-Haq for Pakistan and Kevin Pietersen for England. Given that Hawk-Eye's predictor path is inexact, there might have been too much speculation on the part of the umpire. And Jonathan Trott was given out LBW, by Steve Davis, to a ball that was completely missing leg-stump, according to Hawk-Eye. Trott, disoriented, didn't appeal against Davis's decision - but then every batsman seemed to be disoriented yesterday, except for Asad Shafiq, who made a very sensible 45, and Andrew Strauss, who held England together with his unbeaten 41. But however poorly most of the batsmen batted, and however over-enthusiastically the umpires umpired, James Anderson and Stuart Broad used the new ball exceptionally well - helped by a pitch which, in this almost enclosed stadium, does not receive any sunshine until half-an-hour before the 10 am start. Most of Pakistan's top-order batsmen were defeated by the ball seaming back, either to be given LBW or, in Azhar Ali's case, caught off the inside edge. Younis Khan, the exception, was bounced out. A third seamer might have been useful, but Monty Panesar kept control while Anderson and Broad rested, and picked up a couple of wickets, including Shafiq trying to cut. The other Pakistan wicket, the lefthanded Rehman, fell to Graeme Swann in his single over. It has become an equation. A lefthanded batsman + Swann in his first over = wicket. Unfortunately for England, Umar Gul also used the new ball skilfully and took out the only two of their batsmen who have made a 50 in this series. Alastair Cook, out of rhythm, sparred at a ball he could have left, and Trott was leg-before when he might not have been. With Strauss, Pietersen raised the siege briefly with some commendable aggression against the spinners. The first seven overs of Saeed Ajmal and Rehman combined went for 25 runs - and no wicket. Strauss and Pietersen ventured some front-foot drives against the Pakistan spinners, and rotated the strike, and pushed a few fielders back, and made it look like a different, more feasible game. But once Pietersen was given out, by Simon Taufel, the collapsing resumed. Ian Bell was unlucky in that, having been beaten by Ajmal's doosra again, the ball bounced off Akmal's gloves to have him stumped. At least Eoin Morgan went down with a bit of fight after hitting a straight six off Ajmal. Matt Prior was clean bowled by another of Rehman's corkers before the close, gripping and beating his bat. But Strauss hung on, grimly, and has the job of giving England a worthwhile lead tomorrow. And perhaps Test match umpires should be paid by the day, not by the match.