Cricket: STUBBLE AHEAD; Tourists struggling as first Test looms England's batsmen cut to pieces again by home seamers.

Byline: Mike WALTERS Cricket Correspondent REPORTS FROM LAHORE

SPROUTING whiskers for the team's moustache-growing competition may be a laugh, but on the pitch England's batting collapses are going from beard to worse.

Skittled out for just 126 by Pakistan's A team yesterday, Michael Vaughan's men found themselves in deep trouble before Matthew Hoggard and Ashley Giles led a valiant face-saving operation.

As 18 wickets crashed on the opening day of England's Test rehearsal, the home side had squeezed ahead on 127-8 in reply before bad light stopped play among the five o'clock shadows.

Opening batsman Andrew Strauss, who has scored only 16 runs in three innings on tour, insisted last night: "It's not panic stations yet."

But if England don't raise their game, it won't even be a close shave in next weekend's first Test at Multan.

To alleviate the boredom of being confined to their hotel, Vaughan's players have been amusing themselves by seeing who can cultivate the best moustache.

Yesterday's official squad portrait contained some unfamiliar foliage among England's stiff upper lips, from Kevin Pietersen's Emperor Ming to squadron leader Strauss and Giles's suave David Niven look.

Between them, Vaughan's batsmen have been making a right tache of it so far on this trip. In Rawalpindi last week, they crumbled to 60-6 then 38-6, and here they folded to 53-7 inside 18 overs.

On a pitch offering generous sideways movement, Mohammad Asif, 22, cleaned up with 7-62.

Although skipper Vaughan and Strauss, edging fine outswingers, were blameless, and Marcus Trescothick had his stumps splattered by another boomerang, others were more culpable. Paul Collingwood, who will be preferred to Ian Bell in the first Test, played a poor shot, Freddie Flintoff holed out to mid-off and Geraint Jones (4, 0 and 0 so far on the tour) was clean bowled for the third time in as many innings.

Strauss admitted: "Obviously we're not over-happy with our batting performance but there's no doubt the wicket did assist the bowlers and hopefully we can do a better job in the second innings.

"Each batsman individually has got to look at how he's got out and work out whether he's been at fault or whether he's been getting good deliveries.

"We've all played in conditions similar to these and we should be good enough to adapt better and score more than 120.

"Although it might take a bit of luck and a lot of application, there's no reason why you can't score runs on pitches like this.

"Certainly in the two games we've played out here, the wickets have got easier for batting once you've seen off the new ball, and maybe we can learn lessons from that.

"It's not panic stations yet, and no doubt the adrenaline will be flowing when the Test match comes round on Saturday, but we've got to react quicker if the wicket doesn't behave the way we expect."

England were indebted to Hoggard, who has been struggling with stomach cramps, for ripping out Pakistan A's top four within nine overs.

Hoggard finished with 4-39 and Giles bagged three wickets in eight balls to keep the home side on a tight leash.

After the procession of hunched shoulders and drooping moustaches, England's batsmen have only one innings left to find their form and arrive in Multan feeling ship-shape and bristle fashion.

SCOREBOARD

ENGLAND - First Innings Trescothick b Asif............................8 Strauss c Yousuf b Shahid Nazir........5 Vaughan c Yousuf b Asif...................17 Pietersen c Rehman b Shahid Nazir....4 Collingwood c Yousuf b Asif..............0 Flintoff c Arshad b Asif....................9 Jones b Asif....................................0 Giles b Khalil................................21 Udal c Umar b Asif........................23 Hoggard not out............................11 Harmison c Rehman b Asif..............18 Extras (lb4, w5, nb1)..................10 Total (35.1 overs)..................126 Fall: 1-13, 2-13, 3-34, 4-34, 5-40, 6-44, 7-53, 8-87, 9-101. Bowling: Shahid Nazir 10-5-18-2; Asif 16.1-2-62-7; Arshad Khan 1-0-2-0; Khalil 8-1-40-1. PAKISTAN A - First Innings Farhat lbw b Hoggard....................23 Umar c & b Hoggard.......................6 Athar c G Jones b Hoggard...............0 Yousuf b Hoggard..........................10 Raza lbw b Giles............................34 Amjad b Collingwood.......................7 Rehman c Flintoff b Giles...............32 Khan lbw b Giles.............................0 Nazir not out..................................6 Asif not out....................................1 Extras (b4, nb4)...........................8 Total (8 wkts, 30 overs).........127 Fall: 1-9, 2-9, 3-29, 4-46, 5-58, 6-118, 7-118, 8-124. Bowling: Hoggard 8-0-39-4; Harmison 9-0-44-0; Collingwood 4-1-14-1; Flintoff 5-1-12-0; Giles 4-1-14-3.

CAPTION(S):

FEELING STUMPED: Jones's poor form continued as he was clean bowled; FRED AND BURIED: Flintoff flopped in first innings