Salman Butt stumped to Marcus North

Salman Butt could not believe his lapse in falling to Marcus North's first ball, Pakistan v Australia, 1st Test, Lord's, July 16, 2010.

Pakistan's stalwart Salman Butt suffered an aberration against the part-time spin of Marcus North, and was stumped down the leg side for 92, as Australia overcame an anxious first hour on the fourth day at Lord's to claim three important wickets in their quest for victory in the first Test. On the stroke of lunch, North added a second to end a spirited cameo from Umar Akmal, to leave Pakistan teetering on 216 for 4 with five sessions of the match remaining.

After a confident start to a mountainous run-chase on Thursday evening, Pakistan had resumed on 114 for 1, still requiring an improbable 326 to make history and secure their first victory over Australia for 15 years. But the overnight pair of Butt and Azhar Ali showed no signs of anxiety as they racked up 48 runs in the first ten overs of the day under moderately overcast skies that did not offer prodigious amounts of movement to any of Australia's bowlers.

Butt, who resumed on 58 not out, was once again the main source of Pakistani optimism, as he cashed in on a wayward first spell from Mitchell Johnson to slash four fours over the covers in the space of 10 deliveries, before angling the first ball of Shane Watson's spell through third man for another boundary. Following on from his first-innings 63, the innings briefly carried his Test average against Australia past the 50 mark.

At the other end, the debutant Azhar continued the composed performance he had begun the previous evening, although he was forced to ride his luck against Ben Hilfenhaus, whose accurate outswingers were once again the most disciplined asset at Ricky Ponting's disposal. Twice in two balls, Azhar was squared up on off stump to squirt boundaries through the gully, but on 42, his luck ran out. Hilfenhaus found the perfect length once again, and Tim Paine behind the stumps snapped up a welcome dismissal.

Hilfenhaus's rhythm was disrupted one over later when he dived awkwardly at third man and jarred his left shoulder on the turf, while Pakistan's concentration was unsettled by a blink-and-you-miss it break for rain that was over before the hover-cover had even been moved into place. But it was the unassuming offspin of North that really did for Pakistan, as his teasing lobs proved too tantalising for two of Pakistan's key performers.

First to succumb was Butt, who had moved to within eight runs of becoming the first batsman to make a century in a neutral Test at Lord's for 98 years, when he was lured out of his crease by North's very first ball, an innocuous delivery that drifted late down the leg-side and was expertly snapped up by Paine as Butt overbalanced.