Stuart Broad and Graeme Swann each took three wickets as England took charge of the second Test against Pakistan on day one in Abu Dhabi.

Broad (3-47) bowled both Younus Khan and Azhar Ali after lunch to leave the hosts struggling on 103-4.

A stand of 100 between Misbah-ul-Haq and Asad Shafiq helped Pakistan recover before Swann (3-52) trapped Shafiq lbw.

Broad then removed Adnan Akmal and Swann bowled Abdur Rehman to leave Pakistan 256-7, with Misbah 83 not out.

England would have taken a firmer grip on the game had James Anderson not dropped Misbah when the Pakistan captain was only on 30.

Ultimately, the efforts of Misbah and Shafiq (58) ensured that Pakistan did not entirely waste the opportunity to bat first on a flat wicket, albeit one that is already offering assistance to the spinners.

The turn extracted by Swann and Panesar – in the England side for the injured Chris Tremlett, who is flying home – justified captain Andrew Strauss’s decision to select only two front-line seamers as the tourists looked to bounce back from a 10-wicket defeat in the first Test in Dubai.

However, any trepidation that Strauss may have had about having two pacemen at his disposal would have been allayed by Broad, who bowled with patience and skill to extract plenty of seam movement.

In an excellent spell after lunch, the Nottinghamshire man found exaggerated movement to bowl Younus off his pads and Azhar through the gap between bat and pad.

With Pakistan in trouble at four wickets down, Misbah counter-attacked by launching Panesar for two straight sixes and, with the support of Shafiq, rebuilt the innings.

Their progress was untroubled until Shafiq, who had just reached his fourth Test half-century, aimed an ugly sweep at Swann and was trapped leg before.

That exposed the Pakistan tail to the second new ball and Akmal, who was dropped at slip by Strauss off Anderson, was pinned lbw by Broad before Swann deceived left-hander Rehman with an off-break that turned enough to avoid the outside edge but not the off stump.

Pakistan’s hopes of a substantial first-innings score now rest entirely with Misbah and, with only the tail for company, he attacked even in the last over of the day, dispatching Panesar for two more sixes.

That treatmeant was harsh on the Sussex slow left-armer, who in his first appearance for England since 2009, got through 33 overs for figures of 1-91.

Panesar had been introduced into the attack as early as the ninth over and bowled nearly twice as much as fellow spinner Swann.

Swann had struck England’s first blow of the morning, enticing Taufeeq Umar to leave a ball that knocked his off stump out of the ground, before Panesar squeezed an arm ball through Mohammad Hafeez’s bat and pad only one delivery after spilling a return chance from the same batsman.

Panesar could have had further rewards had Anderson been able to snaffle Misbah, and England will hope that mistake does not prove costly.