Australia lost four wickets in little more than an hour against Pakistan at Headingley today to leave Ricky Ponting regretting his decision to bat first.
Making the most of conditions that were conducive to seam bowling, Mohammad Asif produced a great spell from the Kirkstall Lane End to remove Shane Watson and captain Ponting, who were both dismissed lbw.
Mohammad Aamer had claimed the first wicket of the day by trapping Simon Katich for 13, and Umar Gul had put the Aussies on the ropes by clean bowling Michael Clarke.
When Ponting was out for six, Australia were 29 for four, with those wickets falling in the space of 47 balls and at the cost of just nine runs.
Salman Butt could hardly have hoped for a better first morning to his career as Pakistan Test captain. Earlier, the opening batsman had called for a more watchful approach from his flamboyant batsmen. The Aussies' victory at Lord's last week had prompted Shahid Afridi to resign as captain after only one match in charge.
Although Pakistan showed plenty of promise with the ball, they were far too careless with the bat. Afridi epitomised their reckless approach by giving away his wicket in both innings, with only Butt — who made twin half-centuries — showing the necessary responsibility to prosper, something he hopes his team-mates will adopt when they have the chance to bat in Leeds.
Shoaib Malik replaced Afridi in the only change to Pakistan's batting line-up but it was Australia captain Ponting who won the toss and chose to have first use of the Headingley surface.
"We have to bat a bit longer and put some more runs on the board," said the 25-year-old Butt. "If we get two or three partnerships going we'd be in with a good chance to get up a good total. I have to remind someone like Umar Akmal to respect the occasion. If you've just lost a wicket, if you're having lunch after one more over, you have to be more watchful."
Ponting promised that his bowlers would target Butt in his first match in charge. The opener had few difficulties against Aussie pacemen Mitchell Johnson, Ben Hilfenhaus and Doug Bollinger at Lord's and Ponting is keen for them to be more threatening in Leeds.
He said: "In his first 50 in the second innings he hit an awful lot of boundaries, so we've got to stop him doing that."
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