Hoggard strikes twice as England chase win

LONDON, July 17 (Reuters) Matthew Hoggard dismissed both Pakistan openers to give England a flying start in their bid to win the first test at Lord's today.

At lunch on the final day Pakistan were 43 for two off 16 overs with Hoggard taking two for 20 from his eight overs.

Set 380 to win from 80 overs, Pakistan lost opener Salman Butt immediately when the left hander shuffled across his stumps and was hit on the pads by Hoggard's first ball from the Pavilion End.

Umpire Simon Taufel had no hesitation in accepting the raucous England appeal.

Hoggard struck again with the third ball of his sixth over when Imran Farhat glided the ball to Paul Collingwood at third slip with his score on 18 and the total on 33.

Steve Harmison, who admitted before the match he does not like bowling on the Lord's slope, fired too many deliveries wide of the batsmen from the other end and was taken off after bowling only four overs for 11 runs.

His replacement Liam Plunkett was no more accurate at first with Farhat gliding his first ball past gully to the boundary then getting his bat to a wild delivery down the leg side for another four.

But after Farhat's dismissal he found his length, beating Faisal Iqbal with two searing deliveries outside the off stump.

Earlier, Hoggard and Plunkett swiped merrily at the bowling as England, 258 for seven overnight, batted for a further 34 minutes on another sun-drenched morning with Plunkett proving the more successful.

A batting average of 6.83 in his five previous tests does not suggest Plunkett was a ready-made replacement for the injured Ashley Giles at number eight.

But he showed something of the latent ability which has persuaded the England management to bat him above Hoggard by cutting Abdul Razzaq for four then driving him to the extra cover boundary in the same over.

He slashed another four off the the Pakistan medium pacer but was then caught behind for 28 with four boundaries, prompting acting captain Andrew Strauss to declare.

Reuters DH DB1807