England posted four heartening individual half-centuries yesterday as they rediscovered the difficulty of facing Pakistani spin in the United Arab Emirates.

Captain Alastair Cook (53), his deputy Joe Root (59), then Jonny Bairstow (66 not out) and Adil Rashid (51no) helped the tourists to 286 for six against Pakistan A in Sharjah, after they had chosen to give their batsmen the first chance to acclimatise to stifling conditions.

But there were less convincing contributions in particular from Cook’s prospective Test opening partner Moeen Ali, and then Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, who both went cheaply.

The first instalment of this two-day match, on a slow-motion surface, therefore amounted to a work in progress as England search for a foothold in the desert before the first Test which starts a week today,