After winning the toss and electing to bat, England initially looked to be in a promising position as Gooch and Stewart put on 123 for the first wicket. This turned out to be the biggest partnership of the match though, as from that point on, wickets fell at regular intervals. Waqar Younis ripped the heart out of the England middle order, removing Lamb, Botham and Lewis on the way to figures of 5–91. Pakistan's reply featured half-centuries from Aamir Sohail, Asif Mujtaba and Salim Malik, but they could only establish a first innings lead of 38, Malcolm and DeFreitas the pick of England's bowlers.