A stand of 132 between captain Nasser Hussain and Graham Thorpe left England in a strong position after the second day of the first Test against Pakistan at Lord's yesterday.

At the close England were 254 for four with Hussain 53 not out from 156 balls including six fours.

The skipper justified his decision to drop down the batting order from three to four with his highest score in England since his 61 here in the first innings against New Zealand in 1991.

Nightwatchman and debutant Ryan Sidebottom was four not out.

Disappointingly for England, Thorpe went shortly before the close, falling into a hooking trap when he miscued Pakistan captain Waqar Younis to Abdur Razzaq at long leg for 80, five overs after the new ball had been taken.

The Surrey left-hander had faced 145 balls including 12 fours and was dominating the bowling. It was a reckless shot and signalled the entrance of Yorkshire left-armer Sidebottom in fading light against a fired-up Waqar.

The son of Yorkshire and England seamer Arnie, the Sidebottoms became the 10th English father and son pairing to play Test cricket.

It took Sidebottom junior nine balls to get off the mark but he did so with a confident straight drive off Wasim Akram.

Earlier Hussain brought up his fifty with a clipped two runs off Waqar having faced 146 balls and struck six fours.

But he battled hard for his runs. Initially he was tied down to such an extent that it took him 33 balls to move off one run before he loosened the shackles with a cover-driven four off Azhar Mahmood from his 39th delivery.

The medium-pacer took two wickets for no runs in 18 deliveries during the second session but failed to make any further impact after reducing England to 114 for three.

England's 100th Test at Lord's also marked the return to Test cricket of Shoaib, playing his first Test since his March 2000 appearance against Sri Lanka.