ENGLAND made a dreadful start to their tour of Pakistan as they collapsed to 61 for six in the morning session after choosing to bat first in their opening match against a Patron's team at the Pindi Stadium.

Only Marcus Trescothick (34no) provided any solace for England supporters - and even he needed a some early good fortune as Rawalpindi-born 20-year-old left-arm seamer Najaf Shah made it difficult for the batsmen in a spell of two for 16 in nine overs and then former Scottish Saltires medium-pacer Yasir Arafat (three for 23) took three wickets in 12 balls.

Trescothick could only stand in disbelief as five wickets fell for 19 runs at the other end, after England had mustered a comparatively healthy 41 for one at one stage against the new ball.

Andrew Strauss and Michael Vaughan were Najaf's two victims, both beaten by good pieces of bowling as well as their own misjudgements - but after Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood had gone for the addition of only one run, it seemed coach Duncan Fletcher's warning yesterday that batsmen need to learn patience on sub-Continental pitches had failed to sink in.

Strauss was the first casualty when he shouldered arms to a ball from Najaf which held its line to hit off stump from a fuller length than the left-hander had bargained for.

Both Vaughan and Trescothick then had close calls, the captain very nearly caught in front on the back foot on three by Najaf and his partner sparring an edge past third slip down to third man off Mohammad Irshad when he had just two more runs to his name.

Trescothick had another lbw scare on 10 when like Strauss earlier he played no shot to the wrong Najaf delivery but was adjudged not out to a ball which struck his front pad.

When Irshad was replaced at the Murree End by Arafat, Trescothick greeted the first change with a flat-batted cover-drive for four first ball.

But the Somerset left-hander soon found himself fighting a lone battle to rescue a worthwhile total for England.

A re-run of Vaughan's earlier scare against Najaf this time saw the finger raised when he was trapped on the crease.

Pietersen reacted to the arrival of Yasir Ali in place of Najaf at the pavilion end by spearing a drive on the up to be caught at gully off the new bowler's third delivery - and Collingwood went for a duck when he under-edged a pull at Arafat on to his middle-stump, from a ball which might have been better met by a backward-defensive bat.

Ian Bell, coming in two places lower than he had in last summer's Ashes, fared little better and became the fifth of six English batsmen to register a single-figure score when Arafat swung a full-length ball between bat and pad to beat the defence and disturb middle-stump again.

Geraint Jones appeared to get some bat on a similar Arafat delivery - but not enough to keep his stumps intact, leaving opener Trescothick batting with the tail after only 26 overs at the crease.