Pakistan pace bowler Mohammad Asif won just reward for a mesmerizing spell of late swing bowling Thursday when he bowled Andrew Strauss for 13 after the fourth Test at Lord's finally got underway. No play was possible before lunch because of the rain which has drenched London for the past 24 hours and the players then left the field after 63 minutes because of bad light. In that time England reached 39 for the loss of the England captain's wicket after Salman Butt had won the toss and asked the home side to bat. England leads 2-0 in the four-match series. Pakistan made an unpromising start when Mohammad Amir's opening delivery from the Pavilion end hurtled to the fine-leg boundary for five wides. Amir was then denied an early wicket when Umar Akmal dropped an easy chance at third slip off Alastair Cook when the batsman was on one. Umar, moving to his right, got both hands to the ball but failed to hold on to the catch to Amir's obvious disgust. It was the 18th catch that Pakistan has spilled in the series. Cook had another escape on nine when umpire Billy Bowden upheld an appeal for caught behind by Akmal's brother Kamran after a long pause. The batsman immediately appealed and third umpire Steve Davis ruled in his favor when television replays showed the ball had missed the bat. Cook, whose long lean spell ended with a second-innings century in the third Test at the Oval, could make little of Asif who jagged the ball late both ways. He was beaten three times in a row in one over, pushing forward more in hope than expectation. Asif finally got the wicket he so thoroughly deserved when he bowled Strauss with a delivery which knocked back the leg-stump. Jonathan Trott got off the mark immediately, pushing Asif to the long-on boundary. The ball stopped a few centimeters inside the rope, allowing the batsmen to run four. The floodlights were turned on to little avail when umpires Bowden and Tony Hill decided conditions had deteriorated sufficiently to leave the field. The rain then returned and the covers were brought on for what looked like becoming another lengthy delay. Cook, dropped on one, was 10 not out and Trott eight not out. It was no surprise when Pakistan captain Salman Butt opted to field first in fter winning the toss in the kind of overcast conditions that have troubled batsmen on both sides all series. Strauss has now gone over a year without a Test century and he may only have one more chance to end that run, should England bat again at Lord's, before England begin its defence of the Ashes in Australia starting in November.
